The Hague

I have returned from the Netherlands, safe and sound. From Wednesday to Friday we took a school trip--yes, an educational one--to the Hague, one of Europe's justice centers and the location of the International Criminal Court (more about that later). 

It took a while to get there. We had to take a metro and bus to the airport, fly to the Netherlands from where we had to take a bus to the train station and a train to the Hague. It felt like we spent more time traveling than we actually did in the Netherlands, but I can't complain because I didn't have to pay for it. Well...I suppose I pay UNH thousands of dollars a year to which they paid for this trip. What goes around comes around I suppose. 

We got to the Hague late in the evening, so we grabbed some dinner and headed back to our hostel to get some sleep before the next day's festivities. 

That morning we headed to the International Criminal Court, the building you can see below. The ICC has the jurisdiction (under certain circumstances) to prosecute individuals for war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity. It's a relatively new organization with its inception in 2002, and currently 122 states have adopted its Rome Statute and become members. For those of you who are interested, the Clinton Administration adopted the treaty which was later revoked by the Bush Administration. The US is not a member of the International Criminal Court (although it is my personal opinion that they should be). The ICC has indicted 36 individuals for heinous crimes and serves as a complementary judicial system on the world stage. Our tour was informative and a bit lengthy. However, I must admit being a crime geek myself I loved it. 

After a tour at the ICC we got some lunch (I had some delicious Phad Thai in case you were wondering) and we headed to the House of Representatives. Unfortunately we were a bit late for our tour, which was cut short. Hence why there is little to note about this excursion. 

After our morning educational visits, we had a free afternoon. This was really the only free time that we had, so we decided to make the most of it. 

We took a little walk around the city centre which you can see here: 

From there we went to the Peace Palace, the most photographed building in the Hague. What happens in this beautiful building you may ask? Many things. It houses the International Court of Justice (the judicial body of the UN), the Hague Academy of International Law, and the Permanent Court of Arbitration. It also remains a popular venue for events concerning international law and policy. Unfortunately the building is closed during the winter, so we could not go inside. But we did get some pictures of the outside!

After seeing the Peace Palace we headed to the Sea! The Hague is located on the coast, and we did not want to give up the opportunity to take a walk on the beach. However, it was cold during our stay and we had to dress in winter coats for our beach day. No worries, it was still amazingly beautiful and we had a great time.

The sand was incredibly soft! Too bad I had to substitute my beach sandals for boots.

Puppy prints!

After we got frozen enough at the beach, we warmed up with some hot chocolate and headed back to the city centre. We had time for one more activity, so why not make it a nerve wracking one? There is a residential and office skyscraper in the Hague in which you can take a glass elevator to the top and overlook the city, on a caged in ledge no less. So we spent the 6 euros to ride to the top, which included a free drink. Let me tell you, that drink was 100% necessary to give me enough courage to go on the look out point. The skyscraper is 42 levels high. When I walked out on to the look out ledge, my legs were shaking and I could hardly walk. I am not a big fan of heights. However, I'm glad I conquered my fears and went out because the view was breathtakingly beautiful. I was shaking so much that it was hard to get a good picture, but I managed to snap one:

Huge shout out to this delicious champagne for giving me the courage to stand 42 floors above the Hague. 

And thus really concludes my trip! That evening we grabbed some dinner and got some shut eye. The next morning we had a quick info session at Eurojust, an agency of the European Union dealing with judicial cooperation in criminal matters. Unfortunately we were on a time limit and our tour was brief. Then we headed back to Budapest. The trip was short but sweet, and I'm glad I got the chance to add the Netherlands to my list of places traveled!