The Hague as base
On an earlier, 2006, trip to the Netherlands with my friend Greg to see Vermeer’s “Girl With a Pearl Earring,” we based in Den Haag for our travels around part of Holland.
I’d gone online to book Hotel Sebel (Prins Hendrikplein 20, 2518 JC Den Haag, Netherlands; phone +31 70 3 459 200, fax 3 455 855, www.hotelsebel.nl). The 2-star hotel was clean, the breakfast was plentiful and the owner, Ms. Achou Zhang, was very pleasant. A single cost €65 (near $95), including breakfast.
We saw “the Girl” at the Mauritshuis museum, but driving and parking in Den Haag was not a picnic. As the city is a short train ride from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, from Den Haag I took a train ride to Amsterdam to visit a few museums, then a very short train ride to Leiden to soak up the 400th anniversary of Rembrandt’s birth and a tram ride to Delft to pay homage to Vermeer and visit the Delftware factory.
I wondered, if using Den Haag as a base camp worked for me, would it work for anyone else?
In 2007 I found a willing guinea pig for the experiment: my 22-year-old daughter Anna. The two things I do not enjoy about traveling in Europe are looking for a place to stay and, if traveling solo, not having anyone to talk to at the evening meal. Anna agreed to be my test case for a loosely planned visit to Holland, with our bags staying in the same hotel room in Den Haag all week.
I contacted Hotel Sebel, but they were all booked up. Ms. Zhang recommended three other options and I chose the 3-star Hotel Petit (Groothertoginnelaan 42, 2517 EH Den Haag; phone 070 346 5500, fax 346 32 57, www.hotelpetit.nl). It was a great fit. A large twin room cost €110 (about $160), with breakfast.
Anna and I took the No. 24 bus from Centraal Station, direction Kijkduin, got off at the Banstraat stop and walked the 50 meters to the hotel entrance. The plan was I would act as a mentor, not a tour guide, and each day of the stay Anna would choose where and how we would travel.
We were lucky with the weather and, even though it was a bit overcast, rented bicycles from the hotel (€7.50). We biked to Scheveningen on the North Sea and through some beautiful woods, then made a last-minute decision to continue on to Leiden, where we walked around this beautiful university town.
The next day we stayed in Den Haag and visited the Escher Museum (Escher in het Paleis) and enjoyed walking around, sampling food and a beer or two.
On the following day Anna wanted to return to the bicycle as the preferred means of transport; we headed south to Delft. The recently opened Vermeer Centre was a treat. It is located in a completely refurbished building that once housed an artist’s guild which included one Johannes Vermeer in its membership roll. Our day included some shopping plus visits to the Delftware pottery factory and the local botanic garden.
The next morning we saw the Panorama Mesdag, a 360-degree painting that depicts a day at the beach (Scheveningen) around 1880.
Next time, I hope to stay at least one week in Den Haag and be a mentor again to experiencing Holland à la carte. Readers who would like more information are welcome to e-mail me c/o ITN.
ROB KANE
Davis, CA