Sunday, October 12, 2014

Traveled to The Hague on Wednesday October 1st for an evening with my brother, my sister in law and Stephen Fry... Okay, fine it was a global cinema event, so we watched him on screen while he was doing his bookpresentation from the stage in the Royal Hall in London. I arrived in The Hague around 16:30  (4:30 pm) and would meet up with the brother and sil for dinner, so I had some time to walk around the area before settling down with a book (by Stephen Fry, obviously:)
Anyway, I made some photos so you can walk along.


Spui with officebuildings (near trainstation) in the distance


Love these type of buildings, dating back to the 1920s (if I remember correctly:)


Such cool sculptures


If only I'd had a ladder to see eye to eye.


I also love that they kept the old buildings and simply moved the new fast-food restaurants in.


This part of the delicatessen passage was opened in 1929 (there was a plaque stating this;)


View of the Buitenhof; the outside of our parliament building; inside there is a big cobblestone square, called 'the Binnenhof; that's where all the big political decisions are made.


A sand sculpture commemorating that the Kingdom (koninkrijk) of The Netherlands was founded 200 years ago. Recognize the big buildings behind the golden carriage?


The guy on the throne is Willem I; behind him in the distance you can see a statue of Willem II


And there you have King Willem II up close; the original statue was given to him by the people (...) in 1853. This is a replica.


Saw a couple  magnificent birds


I think this is a Caspian Gull (Pontische Meeuw) - they spent the winter up North:)


Amazing wingspan


How cool is this portrait of old socialist statesman Drees? (Prime Minister of the Netherlands from August 7, 1948 until December 22, 1958) Check out that shadow!


Gate to the Binnenhof, entrance to the parliament buildings. The Binnenhof is open to the public 24/7.


The stork is the symbol of The Hague.



My destination for this evening: Cinema Buitenhof, also a gorgeous building.


We had dinner at Havana, a Cuban restaurant nextdoor to the cinema. I had spareribs (sweet) - G. had the spicey version and brother J. went for satéh:) All delicious.


Time for Stephen on the big screen, live from London, shown all over the world:)



Stephen with J., G. and self!


Scored a signed copy of his new book. <3

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