Day 19 [Den Haag Day 3]

 

What a beautiful and fulfilling day!  Luckily it was sunny and warm which fit nicely into my plans for the day.  I began by taking the tram north to the Gemeentemuseum, considered by some to be H.P. Berlage's finest work of architecture.  It is a fantastic building, especially the interior organization and articulation of surfaces.  However, I was most thrilled to be able to see the collections.  As I mentioned previously, the main art museum in Den Haag, the Mauritshuis, is currently closed for renovation.  However, the master works that are usually displayed here have been moved temporarily to the Gemeentemuseum.  These master works include paintings from Peter Paul Rubens, Rembrandt, and Vermeer - yes, I got to see in person 'The Girl With the Pearl Earring.'  The museum was quite extensive, and I have a new appreciation for several painters who I did not know very well before.  This all plays into my research, but I will have to digest it later.

Aside from the temporary Dutch Masters from the Mauritshuis, the Gemeentemuseum showcases everything from modern to contemporary art.  I got to experience in person two of my all-time favorite artists: Francis Bacon and Constant.  In fact, there was an entire small room dedicated to the models and paintings that Constant made for New Babylon (a pseudo-utopian project that has extraordinary relevance to urban planning and architecture).  I spent quite a lot of time there.  Of course there was other work by Picasso, Kandinsky, Monet, Cezanne, etc.  An interesting contemporary art exhibit downstairs all about 'Love' and different artist's depictions (some were not sunshine and rainbows).  All in all, I spent over three hours here.  Ended up buying a book on the Dutch De Stijl movement that you can only get from the Gemeentemuseum. 

As I left the museum I got an ice cream from a street vendor, then passed by J.J.P. Oud's World Convention Center, and then set on my way further northwest to Scheveningen.  This is the harbor area in Den Haag, and the nautical center located right on the North Sea.  Currently it boasts a large beach complete with a boulevard (boardwalk) where you can do anything from see an aquarium, have a meal, see a movie, go grocery shopping, browse a bronze sculpture garden, or hedge your bets at a casino.  There is also a long pier that juts out into the water which is perfect for picture taking.  Today the sun was shining brightly, but the wind was vicious and made it quite chilly.  Regardless, I still got a little sunburned by the end of the day.  It was quite beautiful, and definitely the biggest beach I've ever been to.  This was one of those things I would have enjoyed more with the family or a group of friends, though.  It was not as relaxing or conducive to solitude as the port in Rotterdam, but filled with more vibrancy and an overall 'summer' feel.  

In honor of Father's Day - some great boat images along the harbor.

After a lot of walking, I took the tram back to the hotel for a brief (10 minute) rest, and then decided to go out to Dedemsvaartweg - a 1 mile strip of housing known as "Het Strijp" or the "Housing Festival" that was designed in the early 2000s by a series of architects to celebrate the 2,000th dwelling being built.  Yeah, only in the Netherlands.  Apparently the finances fell through towards the end and some architects don't want their names associated with the resulting plot.  Regardless, the quality and standard of the strip is overall quite high, or at least well above average.  After that I walked over to the nearby Leyweg area, where the City Hall stands out above the rest of the buildings.  The area was kind of strange, not exactly desolate but not bustling either.  The trams in The Hague are also strange, as I've been experiencing.  I can't find a decent tram map anywhere, so I just have to navigate more carefully and often just play the journey by ear.  I'm also still hearing the ringing of the 'tram-crossing' warning bell in my ears, for some odd reason.

I was pretty exhausted from being on my feet the whole day, so I grabbed some dinner and ate it in the hotel while watching the tail end of the Holland - Portugal football game.  NL needed to win this match to make it to the next round, after having lost all of their previous games.  When I came in it was tied 1-1, but eventually they ended up losing 2-1.  What I like about football game days is that the entire city is a sea of neon orange, with people dressed in jerseys and hats and shorts, etc. When the game itself is actually on, you can stand anywhere in the street, doesn't even matter if there's a sports bar on the street or not, but you'll be able to hear a collective cheer or groan from the city when something good or bad happens in the game.  It's amazing that the city can be unified so easily like that.  However, now Holland is out of the running, so I'm not sure what will happen to that collective spirit. 

Anyway, this was a great day.  It seems that every day has something radically different to offer, even when I set out to do relatively the same thing every day (museums, architecture, housing).  One day I can be staring an elephant in the face, and the next I can have my feet in the sand.  I like that a lot.