Neth.-Den Haag. i love trees in autumn (in places where they actually have seasons!)

Saturday consisted of a trip to the city of Den Haag. The way the Netherlands is set up is with all these metropolitan areas very close to each other but technically different cities. So, we took a train to Den Haag, but it is not very far from Rotterdam. Bhavika, Preston and I had started hanging out more because we needed a break from some people in our group and for some reason, this particular morning, all three of us were really hyper. We could not stop laughing the whole ride. It was a blast, and by the end of it, my abs had had a good workout! There was one particular moment that was really funny, that isn’t funny unless you were there, but I need to write it in my blog so I don’t forget. Mark was sitting next to us, and I was commenting about how we were messing up the normal system because of the extra 26 people on the train, and how nobody could get a seat like usual and all this. Mark turns and goes, “its like we are clogging the pipes.” We all lost it because that is just such a random and funny analogy! When we got to Den Haag, we walked around the city following Ivan and listening to everything he had to tell us. It was beautiful there too. We walked through this thing that looked exactly like Boerne Market Days. It was all these people selling things in their individual tents but the place they were located was breathtaking. It was this huge canopy of trees everywhere, and they were orange and yellow and loosing their leaves. The Netherlands is so gorgeous in the fall. We walked through there and headed over to the Palace. When we got there we got a thirty minute coffee break. Preston, B, and I hurried to be the first one to the coffee shop so we would be served first and not have to wait forever. The plan worked at first, we were seated before anyone else came in, but of course, everyone else got served first. It was ridiculous, but we laughed because it is just our luck. Then we continued our tour of the city looking at a transportation building and then walking over to a Richard Meir building. That building was really awesome. I liked it a lot because last semester I did a project based on his design philosophy so it was cool to be able to actually go in one of his buildings and experience it rather than just look at pictures. It is the all white building in the pics. From there we walked over to a metro station designed by Rem Koolhaus which was really neat too. It is so hard to describe buildings, it is more something you have to experience personally, but I’m telling you this metro station was amazing! It had a parking garage in it, and different levels for each type of transportation, and also a mix of materials that worked really well together. After that we were done for the day and free to do whatever we wanted. A group of us decided to stay in Den Haag and have lunch in this little square where there were chairs and tables everywhere outside and then a row of like 5 restaurants to choose from. I got a blt wrap and we sat outside and enjoyed our food. Of course, just our luck again, as soon as we get our food, the sun goes behind the buildings and we all freeze all the way through lunch. Then after lunch we split again, and half our group went back to Rotterdam to go shopping and Mark, Bhavika, and I stayed in Den Haag and looked around. I walked around a while just taking in the city and then stopped and got coffee and a chocolate muffin. It was cool, because in the Netherlands, they just assume that you know dutch, especially in the less touristy towns because they aren’t used to having tourists that speak other languages, so they will just start talking to you and you won’t have a clue what they are saying. But then they will speak English to you. They are really nice people. We took the train back to Rotterdam and then took a short nap before going out to dinner. For dinner we ate at this little Italian place that was really good. It was really funny because when you walk by the building, the front three side that you can see are all glass, and there is a porch with tables on it as well, where you can walk up on to it, so you assume there is a entrance through the glass somewhere. We all walked up to the glass and all around trying to get in meanwhile all the people eating inside are laughing and finally point around back. You actually enter through a dark, unwelcoming wall that goes unnoticed. It was funny, but pretty embarrassing. We all thought it was bad design, needless to say. Dinner was good, but once again we were tired, so we decided to just head back to the hotel and sit in the bar there and chill. I ordered a warm chocolate milk, their version of hot chocolate, and we all played mash it! It was fun. Then we went to bed. I woke up in the middle of the night twice with an upset stomach and had to rush to the bathroom if you know what I mean…

The first pic is a group of us under the trees, second is a pic of the castle, third is B and todd walking, i just thought they looked cute, and last is the richard meir building i was talking about.