Hague in the Rain

Rotterdam cruise terminal is quite far inland, so it was fascinating at various points in the middle of the night to see what we were sailing by in a fairly narrow channel. The last two miles of the route we actually had to do backwards as there isn't enough space for Iona to turn in Rotterdam. After breakfast, we headed across the Erasmus bridge and towards the train station. It was however a horrible, rainy, grey day so we got wind-blasted as we crossed the bridge and were very damp by the time we got to Rotterdam Centraal.

A quick train and tram dropped us at the gates of the International Criminal Court in the Hague. We had thought there was a case being heard today but it seems to have been changed so we couldn't actually visit which was disappointing. We walked back through the Hague and to the Binnenhof, the home of the Dutch parliament. Extensive renovation means the Tweede Kamer ('second house', the Dutch House of Representatives) are currently housed in the former Ministry of Foreign Affairs...which we didn't realise until we arrived at Binnenhof and a lovely English chap directed us.

Once at Tweede Kamer, we were told that the chamber was sadly full so we couldn't see it in action, but we were able to wander the exhibits on the ground floor, and visit the gift shop! We considered heading on to Amsterdam but as we'd seen it before and the weather was so horrible we decided to head back instead.Read more