Duo Travels in the Netherlands, Part 1

Delft and The Hague

One of my main reasons for picking the Netherlands as my first destination was the chance to see my friend Israel from Brown. He's been studying at the Technical University of Delft for the last 4 years, and I hadn't seen him in 6 years! We met in the airport, and he was flying back from a conference on the same evening as my own arrival. He navigated us through the train system from the airport to Delft, which was a great relief after a long day of flying.

Israel was kind enough to let me crash on his couch. His apartment is in a traditional Dutch house with very steep stairs. The room itself is nestled under the apex of the roof and therefore is shaped like an "A" (with a ladder to access the bed at the very top).

On Friday, we meandered through the quiet streets of Delft, stopping for pastries at an excellent bakery. While Israel was in meetings, I walked around the TU Delft campus, admiring the modern library and dodging bike traffic. To honor Delft's claim to fame, I admired its signature blue pottery at a nearby museum/factory. Once Israel was free, he showed me around the impressive mechanical engineering building and introduced me to a few colleagues. It was special to see him in his new environment, and see how he's adapted.

Later, we visited the Vermeer museum. I became interested in Vermeer after watching some art history videos on YouTube, and the museum did a great job of showing the progression of his work and pointing out motifs. Although Vermeer lived his whole life in Delft, none of his works remain there, meaning the museum only had images of his paintings. It was still a great experience, and I enjoyed being introduced to his full collection of work.

Dutch food isn't inspiring to Israel, so instead we opted for some great Asian fusion for dinner (duck loaded fries - yum!) Knowing my sweet tooth, he also recommended a place with a towering apple tart. It arrived with an impressive sash of whipped cream.

Saturday we stopped by a farmer's market in Delft for some fresh produce and a very large stroopwaffle. Then we took a day trip to The Hague, where Israel used to live before moving closer to campus.

One highlight in The Hague was a museum dedicated to MC Escher, and his famous tessellations and optical illusions. We both really enjoyed the art, which has a graphic design aesthetic that feels very modern. Amazingly, he created them using wood block printing, meaning he first carved a negative image by hand (yes, including those repetitive patterns). It was also cool to see his earlier sketches of Italian landscapes and animals, both of which became motifs in his later work.

We also stopped at the whimsical Madurodam, a theme park celebrating all things Dutch. There were mini models of famous landmarks, selfie stations with well known paintings, a flight simulator with views of the country, giant tulips, clogs, and more. For such a light hearted place, it actually had a fairly dark backstory. The park is named after George Maduro, a war hero who resisted the Nazi invasion but was killed as a young general. The park can be considered the happiest war memorial ever created.

While in the Hague, we went to the beach and boy was it crowded! On an 85 degree Saturday, it was the place to be. We had dinner at a very modern food court along the coastal pathway. It was my first time trying Surinamese food (from Suriname, a Dutch colony in South America) which included curry chicken with noodles and veggies. After our meal, we walked on the shore, tiptoeing across shell fragments, dodged a coastal reclamation project that had closed a stretch of beach, and enjoyed the sunset with soft serve ice cream.