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Tuesday, August 25, 2009

A trip to Den Haag (The Hague)

Some of the space box (the box like weird apartments I live in) buddies decided to go on a day trip to Den Haag. I jumped on the opportunity to visit some places and for a change, do some thing other then the usual Saturday shopping. With some discipline we started pretty early in the morning, 9am..:). As the train chugged its way from Eindhoven, we had some freshly made poha (an Indian breakfast made of flattened rice flakes), that our neighbour was thoughtful enough to make in the morning.

Den Haag is the political capital of the Netherlands, housing the country's parliament and the royal family. We took a tram from the station and headed straight to the beach - Scheveningen. The word " "Scheveningen" was apparently used by the Dutch in WWII as a password. Even the Germans who could speak Dutch easily never quite managed to pronounce it the right way. Never mind, I wouldn't even try typing the right pronunciation. This was my first visit to a beach in the Netherlands and I was excited. Having lived in a coastal city, the ocean evokes beautiful memories in me every time.




Yup! thats me bungy jumping! haha..I wish I could say that. I just watched those brave souls plunging down towards the sea from a far off distance. We lazed on the beach sand for over an hour and soaked in as much sun as we could. After gulping down a Subway sandwich for lunch, we went to SEA.LIFE right at the beach, an aquarium filled with our earthly buddies living underwater. We googled in as much of the scaly, slimy and some brilliantly colored beings as we could.


After downing an ice-cream and doing some on the spot shopping, we moved on to the next stop, Madurodam - a miniaturized version of Netherlands filled with all the important places as small size replicas. The place has a small airport, whistling ships and even trains zipping all across. The coolest thing is that they give you a small booklet with your ticket which has a short description of all these places and where they are. A good guide to refer to later on.

All that is miniaturized

Sadly Eindhoven had just one reference and that too on a fancy building - Evoluon. Come on guys! You should have put up Philips, the pride of Dutch technology!!


The scale of things

Tired, we sat down for some drinks and frites. On our way back, the train randomly decided to take a round about way and came in 2 hours late! But otherwise the trip was simply wonderful. Nobody got lost and nobody lost anything. We were in sync with each other and the weather was at this perfect balance of being sunny and slightly windy . No matter which place you visit, sometimes it comes down to the people you go with, the weather and some luck of course. Ah! we did well..:)

14 comments:

Unknown said...

What a cool blog entry! And I learned quite a bit new. Especially about Scheveningen being the password for the Dutch during WWII, but I can completely understand why ;-)

~ Lopa said...

So you liked the Den Haag?? We live 15 mins from the city and so visit it often. (Sometimes more than once a week, and often for movies and shopping)
When i landed here at NL, on the very first evening we were there at Scheveningen... I love it there.

This Saturday there was Firework on beach and so since evening it had become very busy. We were there at night, reach there through 3km long traffic jam and 2 hours late than what we were supposed to, and couldn't find the parking place :/ ... watched fireworks from car, and came back home tired :(

Unknown said...

Very nice post about your trip to Scheveningen!
I often take day trips to Den Haag myself - I love that city. I've been to Scheveningen twice: once in springtime with horrible weather, when I had to fight against wind and rain to walk along the pier (where they do the bungy-jumping thing) and avoid having my camera blown away by the storm. I felt so Dutch in that weather! ;o) Then I went again last year in july, when the weather was lovely and could enjoy it a bit more.
Wonderful photos!!
Cheers!

thamarai said...

Isabella, thank you so much..We spent most of the time on train trying to get Scheveningen right! The Dutch around us had a good laugh! :)

Lopa, you lucky girl! You live at an awesome place...Btw, we saw a movie as well at Pathe - Kaminey...horrible movie..I have no idea how it turned to be a hit..in case u weer planning to watch it do rec-consider..;)

Aledys, thanks a lot! I can imagine the place in the winter..it must be biting cold especially with the wind..Ah, the wind is such a specialty here..it greets you especially when you start riding the bike...;)

~ Lopa said...

hahaha, we already watched it .. on very first weekend when it got released... it s**ks.
We didnt like it. Such a high critical review but i didn't find movie even nearing to that hype created !

You would have asked me ;) lol
So now you know our weekend movie place ;)

Archana said...

Bumped into your blog from another. :) I've always been in awe of the crazy-wild people that bungee jump. It scares me senseless. I can't imagine voluntarily launching myself off of anything higher than the generic diving board at the swimming pool, lol.

Anyway, what you said in the ending is so right. It's always the company you travel with that makes the journey and the trip so much better. The place can offer as much vibrancy & fun as possible, but if you don't have the right crowd around you, you can't enjoy it as much. :)

Dheza Marie Aguilar said...

ah bungee jumping, i was actually thinking of doing it. how was it? oh ill send you a private email asking it. i really want to go, really really wanted to try that.

thamarai said...

Lopa,I really really wish I had asked you before..:P..would have saved myself lot of misery..:).and seriously the movie was so stupid....Do put up reviews Lopa, I wld love to read it and be warned before hand..hehe..

Archana, thanks a lot for visiting my blog...I am super scared of bungee jumping as well..was satisfied just watching from far..:)..I have been to some drab places with the great people and had the best time you know..the people and moods matter a lot..

Author, thanks for visiting my blog as well..but I actually din't bungee jump...:)..that was a pic of someone else...probably not so clear in my post..But everybody seemed to have great fun..just go for it! :)

Unknown said...

Ahhh... I cant imagine u were so close to doing it yet dint:( I know it looks scary but once ur standing on the edge there is something that urges u to jump and the feeling in unbelieve.. U shd def try Bungee..nutin like it:)

thamarai said...

ya..I know..but nobody in my group wanted to do it..So I conveniently chickened out as well..:)..but one day....

mub said...

Madurodam -used- to have the Eindhoven train station but they took it out recently. I was bummed too *L*

thamarai said...

Hello fellow Eindhoven blogger!! Thanks for visiting my blog...We need more support to show off the glamour of this city....;)

Rajna said...

Finally here is the grand comment :p.. awesome entry.. u really should hv tried the bungee jump..but yeah..as always there is a next time.. keep bloggin..

thamarai said...

Thank you your highness..:)..can't give up on the smiley can I..;)

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