Netherlands 2004 - Day 6

Scott Andrew BirdScott Andrew Bird
July 4, 2004


Leiden -> Den Haag -> Leiden

Windows, Den Haag
Windows, Den Haag.

Although as eerily quiet on a Sunday morning as any other large city, Den Haag was quite unusual in a very special way. It appeared that there were more architects per capita earning a good living here than any other city I've seen, such is the density of well-designed structures. The city is also home to hundreds of sculptures, large public parks filled with all manner of flora and fauna, and a long-held appreciation of music which includes major international events such as the North Sea Jazz Festival.

As I stuffed my face this morning with ham+cheese filled croissants I endeavoured to decipher the unusual weather here. Blue skies turned to a menacing grey and back to blue in the space of breakfast, and I decided to head into Leiden before the grey made a re-appearance. As I left the hotel however, I spied the bus to Den Haag conveniently waiting at the stop across the road and found myself boarding that instead. A day trip to Den Haag it was then.

The bus terminated above the Centraal Station, and from a casual glance I could have been in a large city anywhere in the world. It only took a minute for that impression to be lost however, as outside the station were massive sculptures, creatively designed buildings, fountains and plenty of grass making this both an exceptionally beautiful and modern city.

As keen as I was to visit the Gemeentemuseum (home to many of Piet Mondriaan's greatest pieces), which lay several kilometres outside the town centre, I ignored the trams waiting patiently at the station and walked instead; pausing to admire both art and architecture at regular intervals.

Outside the museum was a length queue, and I opted to explore the shopping area of a nearby suburb in the hope that the queue was only a Sunday morning thing. Returning a couple of hours later (my exploration included a bit of a time-out in the form of soft grass, a book and a shady tree) I saw that the queue length was unchanged; possibly as today was the end of a Klimt-Schiele-Klee exhibition featuring many works hidden in private collections until recently.

I queued for less than an hour, leaving nearly two hours for wandering around the three floors of the museum. The queueing appeared to have been primarily for the exhibition, as these rooms followed a definite look->shuffle->look routine. Oddly the rest of the museum was relatively empty, to the extent that by the time I arrived at the museum's prized Mondriaan - Victory Boogie Woogie, which set them back $38,000,000 a few years ago - I was alone in the room.

After absorbing myself for a while in the 'Mondriaan en de Stijl' rooms I worked my way downstairs to a particularly impressive display of historical musical instruments. I've never seen to many harpsichords in one place, nor zithers, clarinets, harps or any of the myriad of other instruments on display. An incredible collection.

I was satisfied that I had seen everything in the museum by 4:58, 2 minutes before closing time. The thought of walking back into town didn't appeal anywhere near as much as the tram which stopped outside the museum, and fortunately it wasn't particularly crowded on a Sunday afternoon.

Just before the tram arrived at the station I noticed that the massive park opposite was home to rabbits, deer and a great variety of birds luxuriating on a sunny bank of the lake. I mirrored the birds for a while, content with a sunny park bench on the near side of the lake; watching the strange combination of deer, rabbits and geese running about on an area of land protected by canals from the rest of the park.

An hour later the sunny sky was taken over by threatening clouds, and no sooner had I reached the safety of the station did the rain make an entrance. Time to catch the bus back to Leiden.

After checking the bus times, I realised I had plenty of time to grab dinner before heading back; which was unfortunately limited to the fast food outlets of the station. Hungry, but somewhat reluctant, I found myself queuing in Burger King, thankful that the food on offer looked slightly more appealing than the last time I found myself lining up for a hamburger.

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