VIJF FOTOS-Amsterdam Day 4

Today was a fairly unplanned day initially other than we decided to take a train to The Hague, Netherlands. It's about 30 miles away. Jim C discovered that there was an Escher Museum there so we decided to book tickets to see it.

Although Amsterdam is the capital of The Netherlands, The Hague is the center for most of the government function.

The train ride was a comfortable 50-minute ride through a mostly rural area. We walked over to the museum through a beautiful wooded greenspace. The Escher Museum is housed in a beautiful two-hundred year old-palace used for the Queen Mother for decades. The setting really added to the experience.

It was fun to see Escher's works, and the developmental story about his craft moved to the world of perspectives and the infinity of tesseracts. I had previously assumed that he had a deep mathematic background, but that's not true according to his story.

Escher's work intrigues me because it's playful, but also seems to turn something impossible to something that is strangely plausible. I also think of the scene in the movie "Labyrinth" which also fuels my nightmares of heights and precarious drops: https://youtu.be/k1Z2pk5J9Ng

Fittingly, the return to the main floor was down a spiral staircase that when looking down seems to go to infinity. Full disclosure: Jim C looked down and took the photo. I didn't-just focusing on a step at a time. 😬

After we left the museum, we took the tram to the beach. We arrived adjacent to what I have dubbed "Oh Hel Nee Pier"boasting a ferris wheel a large tower and crane for zipline and bungee jumping. I reflected on my entrenched acrophobia, and decided that it's still the way for me. It was fun to put our feet in the water; the North Sea wasn't as cold as we expected. We also tried bitteballen (round fried balls with mostly white sauce) and fries as we watched families gather and play on the beach.

We left the beach in search of the Peace Palace (Vredespaleis), a building funded by Andrew Carnegie. This palace holds the International Court of Justice, the principal judicial body of the United Nations; and the Permanent Court of Arbitration, a non-U.N. body that works to resolve disputes between member states and countries. The Palace was not open to visitors when we arrived so we missed the opportunity to see the library.

Just outside the gates of the Palace on the Carnegieplein, the Herdenkingsmonument 1940-1945 The Hague Memorial)

The monument was created in 1992 by sculptor Appie Drielsma. The Jewish Drielsma had survived the war as a boy by going into hiding.  This is one of several war memorials that he created.

The monument is made up of four columns. These columns symbolize the four groups in society at the time of the Second World War: neutral, Roman Catholic, Protestant and Jewish. Unlike a number of memorial monuments, the Hague Memorial is not a monument that commemorates a specific group of people or a specific event. The memorial honors everyone who died in the war.

Inscribed nearby are these culminating thoughts:

"This monument wants to commemorate without distinction all those who paid with their lives for the delusions that gave rise to National Socialism. It silently calls for vigilance against the impulses in the human mind that can fuel such delusions and lead to such degrading political systems. In that sense, it wants to be a sign for generations to come.”

The message feels more real in our own backyard. I hope that we learn from the lessons of the past and heed the warnings.

As we walked away from the Palace, we observed many embassies along the way with their flags flying. Many also had banners or flags in support of Ukraine. There was also a massive Progress flag on display which makes us proud of the Portland artist who designed it and recognition of Pride month.

It really was a great walking day as the day was sunnier than originally forecasted and the temperature was pleasant.

We ended the evening with a leisurely Italian dinner while we people watched in one of the gay districts. The portions were generous and tasty (Jim C had tortellini and I had lasagna).

We are finding that "play it by ear" travel days are very rewarding.

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