“I’ve lost months of life just walking up and down beaches. And I’m quite happy about that.” – Old Sean
Away from Amsterdam
For the previous couple of days, I’ve effectively wrung myself out visiting a dozen places in Amsterdam. Afterwards, I began meandering towards Den Haag, also known as The Hague.
It was here I got my first look at the Atlantic Ocean in years.
While I was in China, I rarely visited the shore or beaches. I was primarily based in the North of China near big industrial centers. The made the local beaches rather unappealing. Most were stark, sharp drops from city sprawls or concrete into salted, grey waters.
Even while I was in Denmark, there weren’t many gradual, sandy slopes into the ocean. Tiny canal waterways and coves crafted for shipping perfection were far more common. I would’ve had to wander far outside Copenhagen to reach actual scenic shorelines devoid of human construction.
Which made visiting The Hague a perfectly refreshing experience.
Visiting the Sea
Visiting The Hague (Den Haag) was a freeing treat. I love the ocean and I have a special fondness for the Atlantic.
The shores of The Hague have massive beaches facing the ocean with front row seats to spot oncoming storms.
Down the shore, a jutting pier wandering into the ocean. Atop, there’s an enormous Ferris Wheel. Great gusts of wind cause the structure to loom and sway ominously.
On the beach itself, there are more crunching seashells than sand to walk upon. I had to wear sunglasses in the cloudy weather simply to keep speckles of wind-caught-sand from heckling my eyes.
Best of all, The Hague is home to a few surreal attractions.
Sights Around Den Haag
The first thing I visited after arriving was the Panorama Mesdag, a painting in a specialized art form.
Panoramic Cycloramas are a late 1880’s style of immersive art where the viewer is placed in a circular room and a painting is expertly crafted along the walls. Visitors feel immersed in the 360 degree painting, able to observe a full range of rotating viewpoints from within the room.
Where the Panorama Mesdag is concerned, the foreground is covered in a measure of sand and discarded, rustic boating equipment. These add to the illusion, which implements natural light from above to complete the experience, giving a slight sense of vertigo.
Sadly, camera and cell phone photography is utterly unable to capture it.
The Celestial Vault
Later on, when the skies had cleared to allow bright, white and puffy clouds, I attended the Celestial Vault on the far southwestern portion of town. This “Vault” is a perfect crater impressed upon a hill with a Druidic styled obelisk residing in the middle.
This stone feature is designed to be laid upon while looking almost straight up. This allows a guest to view the very edges of the crater, creating an optical illusion of a curved, receding sky.
A Walk on the Beach
With my optical illusion tour done, I spent the rest of my visit wandering along the beach. I followed seagulls fighting winds, passed low, long-grassed sand dunes bordered by quaint beach houses and walked up and down Strand Kijkduin for slow hours.
Eventually, I visited the interior of De Pier, which hosted a series of small amusement park rides, a surprising arcade and a twisting bungee jumping tower.
For lunch, I stopped by Juni Café in Het Nutshuis, a café with a wealth of ambiance.
In Town
Though I spent most of my time wandering the beaches, I eventually had to head into town.
The Hague is a pretty city. There are gardens stocked with clustered tulips, buildings pressed against shallow lakes with tall fountains, bright brick-and-steel skyscrapers and vast, flat walking parks.
For the rest of the day, I would visit the odd children’s farm Stadsboerderij ‘t Waaygat where goats trotted up to say hi, the flowers at Westbroekpark, the trails around Scheveningse Bosjes, the lakes of Haagse Bos, the stark, straight-trunk trees of Rijswijk Forest and finally the Government Painting Museum of Mauritshuis.
So ends my time visiting the Hague. It was an enormously restful visit after a busy run across Amsterdam. I look forward to heading onward. My next stop is Rotterdam, a city I’ve visited before, but only accidently.
So until my intentional visitation.
Best regards and excellent trails,
Old Sean
Written June 13th, 2018
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