Friday 8th May 2026

Woke at 0545 with back ache. Sat up in bed for half an hour before nodding back off. Woke again at 0900. Got up and made tea before limping across the road for breakfast at Served, a modern cafe serving breakfast bowls and sandwiches in crusty flatbread. Popped back to the hotel room to pick up a backpack, then headed for the metro…took the E line to The Hague. Took about half an hour…we pottered along through verdant open country and satellite villages…quite a lot of new housing developments going up. It all looks very calm and civilised. Alighted at the Central station…browsed in The Hague tourist information store at the station and picked up a few silly gifts emblazoned with The Hague moniker. 

Walked to the Mauritshuis…a magnificent C17th mansion built by a local slave trader and sugar plantation owner. It now houses a collection of Dutch Masters…Vermeer’s breathtaking View of Delft, Rembrandt’s self portrait, and the main attraction, Girl With a Pearl Earring. Got to see the delicate Goldfinch, too. Wandered up to the Mesdag, stopping for coffee and cheesecake on the way, and gawped at the Freedom Palace, now housing the International Court of Justice…a small group of protesters had gathered around a banner calling for the release of Venezuelan political prisoners...from whom, it wasn't clear. 

Hopped on a tram to Sheveningen and walked along the Prom. Ate fish and chips in the Herringhouse near the fishing harbour. Caught a bus back to the central station, then metro back to Leuvenhaven. Wandered around the dock looking for a harbourside bar, but couldn’t find anywhere; walked back toward the hotel, stopping for a beer at Grace, a large brasserie with tables on the street. Could barely walk by the time we got back to our room!