Delft and The Hague

My mom booked a last minute tour for me that was absolutely amazing. I got to go see the Royal Delft Pottery being made. Royal Delft is world famous and has some completely stunning pieces. This ended up being my favorite part of the tour as we went through the factory and saw the pottery being made as well as some famous pieces of Royal Delft Work.

After this, the tour headed into the city center of Delft. It is a very pretty town and reminds me of a smaller version of Amsterdam with all of the canals. The town hall is very pretty and faces the new church.

I went to both the old church, and the new church. The old church was really cool and it was nice to walk around inside.

After I was done there, I headed over to the new church. They don’t seem entirely different on the inside. They are similar styles and have similar feels to them.

The biggest difference between the two churches is that the New Church contains the tomb of William of Orange. He was the first constitutional monarch in the Netherlands and the reign of the House of Orange this year is celebrating its 200th Anniversary of Rule. Unfortunately, like the rest of Europe, the tomb was under scaffolding but I did try and get some photos.

After this, we headed to The Hague. The government runs out of this city, even though Amsterdam is the capital. It reminds of how Versailles used to work with Paris in France under Louis XIII. The parliament buildings and the rest of the buildings are a mixture of different architecture and are really cool.

The day was pretty much completely gloomy in terms of the weather. It was nice when the sun came out when we were in Delft. This allowed me to get a couple photos of the pond behind the government buildings in The Hague. It is not a bad view for the Prime Minister as he does his work.

We then headed over to the International Criminal Court building. The entire area is cool because it is made up of things from different countries. Germany donated the gates for the building, and Switzerland donated the clock. Other countries donated as well, and 197 countries combined to contribute to the World Peace Flame outside of the gates.

When we finally got back to Amsterdam it was dark. I got dinner in the red light district because there is a ton of food in that area and then headed over to Museumplein, the area where the Van Gogh Museum, the Rjksmusuem, and the I Amsterdam sign are located. All the museums were closed but I wanted photos and to see the area.

Tomorrow, I will head over to Brussels in Belgium by train to continue my experience. After all the busing I have done, the train will probably be luxurious.