March 15, 2014
Most of my team spent the day travelling, trying to maximize on our short time remaining in the Netherlands! So we started the day in Delft, a small town known for making "Delft Blauw". If you have anything from the Netherlands, it is most likely Delft Blauw! This is a white and blue (blauw means blue) pottery, typically hand painted. So we spent a few hours walking around Delft, visiting the Nieuwe Kerk and Oude Kerk (New and Old churches). The Nieuwe Kerk is where all members of the Dutch Royal Family, since the establishment of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815, have been buried.
After spending lots of time reading about the history of the churches and of the Netherlands, we started a treacherous journey to the top of the Tower of the Nieuwe Kerk. Words cannot adequately describe this stairwell, but I will try: spiral steps, over 300 of them, most steps barely fit the ball and toes of my feet, rubbed butts with strangers when you had to pass someone going the opposite direction, and absolutely exhausting! We reached a landing and got so excited cause we thought we made it to the top, then promptly realized it was just a stopping point, where the bells were! So after resting and looking out the windows, we continued on! At one point, the stairwell switches directions, which we suspected was so people didn't get too dizzy and pass out! But let me tell you, all 600+ steps that we walked (round trip) were TOTALLY worth the amazing view from the top of the tower! You could walk out to overlook the city all around the tower for a 360 view. Just as words cannot describe those steps adequately, nor could they do this view justice! So here are some pictures and even a video that might give you an idea!
After doing some shopping, getting lunch, and visiting the Oude Kerk, we hopped on another train to venture on to our next stop, Den Haag, or as you may know it, The Hague. The Hague is located on the coast of the North Sea, as well as being the center of the government for the Netherlands. Our first task in Den Haag was to go to Scheveningen, which is a district of Den Haag on the coast, for the trampolines. There are 15 individual trampolines built on the sand, and you can pay 3euro for 10 minutes of jumping. It was SO fun! I have some great pictures and videos for you to see to try to understand just how awesome this was...probably the highlight of the day! We jumped for what I think was about 20-30 minutes, even though we only paid for 10 minutes! I think there was no line and we were clearly having a lot of fun, so I think they just let us keep going! Then we went and enjoyed the beach for a few minutes, and ventured off to the Historical Museum of The Hague. We spent a rather short time there because they were closing, then had a nice leisurely dinner with some great conversations, and headed home. It was a good, Dutch day!
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