Carlton Ambassador The Hague

... to accommodate us. We paid about 12 euro for the tour - around $20..... Eventually we found someone in the crowd who spoke excellent English, and he began to quietly translate for us.

Apparently the origins of The Hague lie in the development of a settlement around a hunting lodge in the 13th century, built by the order of the Count of Holland. The Hall of Knights was the reception and party hall of this lodge. In the 15th century, Philips the Good ...

... lectures from the President of the ICJ as well as one of the judges of the ICC. The ICJ is located in the Peace Palace, a beautiful building that was created by the Netherlands, a formerly neutral country, to hold peace-keeping hearings, because Nicholas of Russia did not want to go to war with Germany at the end of the 19th century. Because the Netherlands agreed to put up the building, it was up to other countries to donate the interior ...

... good food and great drinks made for a long night, but a good ending to my birthday. And the lovely gift that Robin gave to me was a new Fossil watch and a beautiful cake (a first for him)! As a side note I should say that on more than one occasion I have been more than a half-hour late to meet Robin after work... so the watch had more than a sentimental message going along with it. Not only is being ridiculously on ...

... all around us, so it really felt like reality since the painting was all we could see outside of the gazebo. It's kind of hard to explain, so I hope you got the idea... no pictures of it though; the museum didn't allow it. Once at Scheveningen we stopped first in the harbor area. They were supposed to be having some sort of sail boat event, and Mike is interested in sailing, but we didn't see any signs of the event when in the harbor. At Scheveningen there were tons of things to ...

... It has good view of the local churches and electric utility station. We went Chinese tonight to the Mandarin Palace on Nicholaisstraat and Valeriusstraat- Dim Sum to die for...

... we do at home, and most businesses close in the evenings and on Sundays. http://www3.vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index. jsp?page=425&lang=en&section=se ctie_museum If that site takes you where I hope it does, go to the lower right hand corner and it will show the different periods of his painting life. It is 6:00. The day is over, and we are pleasantly fatigued. We head back to our apartment and prepare a meal, satisfied with our day.

... around the red light district, me and Gemma decided that on our final night we would pay to do the 'Red Light District Tour' - again run by the same company. We nervously headed out but the sight of prostitutes beckoning punters inside soon became boring. It was interesting to learn just how safe the erm...business is in the city, and how well paid and well cared for the girls are. Far worse was the rank smell of weed lingering in the air as we walked around ...

... laboratoire social intense! En plein ce que j'avais besoin!) Ce qui est triste dans ces amis "disposables" (traduction libre) c'est justement le fait qu'ils sont "de passage". Les adieus sont parfois tristes et on se dit toujours qu'on ne rencontrera pas d'aussi bonnes personnes... pour se rendre compte finalement qu'il y a beaucoup de bonnes personnes en ce bas monde!! Les backpakers particulierement puisqu'on est tous dans le meme bateau ...

... the side walks (often in single file because of all the parked (and abandoned) bicycles locked on the posts, they speak quickly with one another and while I was making that observation I noticed something else ¡V almost everyone is young. We are seeing very, very few seniors over age 60. Perhaps they have fled the city in anticipation of Amsterdam¡¦s biggest party tonight and tomorrow. Or perhaps they inhabit another area of town. Or perhaps this is one of the ...

... to the hostel where we just sat on the couches for hours and chatted. They left early the next morning, which was sad :( The next day we caught the train out to a Dutch working village at Koog Zandyk, an open-air museum where you see cheese being made, clogs, preserves, etc. Was quite nice out in the countryside :)