Holland – Day 6
Delft and Den Haag – April 17
Unlike yesterday, this day trip excursion wasn’t as interesting because both of these cities aren’t as touristy as the places to 
which we have previously been. Malka woke up with a sore throat in the morning, and was feeling pretty sick the entire day. The weather, though quite nice during the early hours, became cloudy and drizzly by the time we got to Den Haag, or The Hague, and the wind picked up, making it really cold. Even when the weather was nice, it was quite bipolar in that sometimes we were “toastin’ it up” and at other times the millions of bundles we were wearing were not enough!
Delft is the farthest we’ve traveled from Amsterdam, and I was able to take a long and delightful nap on the train. My sister and mom had a great time taking pictures of me at my most vulnerable state. When we arrived at Delft, the train station was almost entirely empty, which wasn’t something I was used to. All of the other places we’ve gone to visit have bustling stations with tons of personnel. We took it upon ourselves to walk into the center of town on our own since we had no map and no information because the tourist center was located nowhere near our place of origin.
The first thing that we came into contact with was an antiques market along one of Delft’s canals. Well actually, all we really came into contact with were street markets. We didn’t visit any museums in the center of the historic city, and so we just walked around the streets for an hour or two. Our main intention for the trip was to visit the Royal Delft, the factory where all of the official Royal Delftware is manufactured. It also doubles as a museum. They offer workshops for visitors where you get to paint your own piece of pottery in the Delft manner, but because it would have taken an hour to complete the session, and because the only way to retrieve my personal, hand-painted work would be to spend 45 euro on shipping, we all agreed it would be best if I skipped that experience. I was quite disappointed about it, considering I wasn’t able to do the Rembrandt etching workshop either. One day!
Other than that small and fleeting disappointment, however, I quite enjoyed the museum and learned a lot about the actual manufacturing process. I was already familiar with the history behind the blue and white commodity because the introduction of the pottery onto the market was due to globalization, a subject I learned about in depth in my Global Renaissance course during the Spring 2013 semester. Europe became interested in the style when it first made a journey to Asia and saw Chinese pottery. The artisans in Delft simply took the Chinese style and modified it to fit European demands.
Other than the informational – the history and the process – the museum also boasted quite a large collection of antique and contemporary Royal Delft products. There was a large, tiled version of Rembrandt’s Nightwatch, various commissions for the Dutch royal family, as well as different examples of styles that Royal Delft employs – polychrome, blue and white, cloisonné, and so on. I think my favorite style is cloisonné, a motif that is mimicking the metal and enamel work of jewelry and household objects. However, this practice ended in 1977 because of financial issues and due to the fact that this process was more costly than others.
Unfortunately, the museum/factory was really out of the way and nowhere near the center of the historic city. To get to it, we had to walk quite a while, and to get back to the train, it was a pretty long trek. The area surrounding the station is currently under construction, so it wasn’t a scenic stroll either!
Den Haag wasn’t a long train ride away. We actually took two trains to get to the central station, and even with the transfer, it took no time at all. Where as Delft was still a quaint Dutch city like we’ve been used to throughout our trip (though it wasn’t my favorite – it wasn’t “stand out”), Den Haag was a CITY-city, with skyscrapers and large buildings abound. Both Mom and Malka were pretty drained by this point in the day, and the immensity of the landscape overwhelmed them. We spent a lot of time sitting in the tourist information center – hardly any information there, by the way – sitting with three crappy maps, trying to figure out what we wanted to do and how we were going to do it. My mom had two reasons for our trip to Den Haag. The first was that there is a museum there dedicated to the work of Escher, an artist whose work is very interesting to look at due to optical illusions and the like. The second reason was because from 1978-79, my mom, grandparents, and uncle all lived in a neighboring suburb while my grandpa was relocated there for a year of work – we wanted to visit her old house.
We walked to the Escher Museum. We passed a McDonalds that has apparently been there forever, as my mom predicted its placement on the street. We also visited Binnenhof, which is pretty much a parliamentary complex. We didn’t actually go inside, or anything, but we took some pictures with the building. As I said, we were pretty drained and overwhelmed. Plus, we were in a rush to see the museum before it closed! When we got there, the ticket lady told us we wouldn’t have enough time to really enjoy the museum, but because we were already there, we said we’d try our hardest to get through it. There were two facets to the museum – Escher and the house in which his artwork is housed. I totally skipped on reading the information about the house, so I can’t say anything about it. There were also amazing chandeliers throughout, created especially for the museum.
I didn’t know that much about Escher as an artist before our visit, and I still don’t know much since we rushed through, but I do have a greater appreciation for his work! I really enjoyed looking at his lithographs and woodcuts. I am finding that I really enjoy the aesthetics of more graphic forms of artwork with sharp or delineated edges and crisp colors. The final floor of the museum was interactive, and there were tons of things to look at, but we weren’t able to take a look at everything. And the gift shop was closed by the time we had walked through the entire place!
Now for our journey to the suburbs of Den Haag, to a little street called Leeuweriklaan. We took the number 12 tram on a long 
journey out of the city. It wasn’t too long, don’t get me wrong, but it was more reminiscent of a longer subway ride than any of the tram rides we’ve taken here so far which last for a few minutes at the most. I was in charge of the map, which is the way it should be, as our walk back from the house, under the guidance of my mom who thought she remembered her old walking route, didn’t go as smoothly as we had hoped. Anyway, it proved to be a bit of an emotional experience for Mom. Perhaps it was because Malka asked her if she’d cry, and you know that when you are asked that question, you inevitably start crying. Either way, I thought it was a great little neighborhood. Leeuweriklaan branches off of a small grassed circle, which used to house various shops. Now, only a small grocery and bakery remains while the rest of the stores have been turned into houses.
It was a nice little trip down memory lane for my mom, and it was nice for my sister and I to see where my mom spent a year when she was younger. It was getting late, and we were getting tired, so it was time to head back. When we were on the train, the clouds were really dense and it started to rain. It really ended up being quite the dreary day!
All in all, we might have gone to two different cities, but we really didn’t do much today! I don’t really mind, though, so I guess that’s a good thing. I’m not disappointed!
