Neeltje Jans & The Hague
This weekend we had a trip that was planned through the CES program to Neeltje Jans, The Hague, Delft, and Zaanse Schans. On Saturday we went to Neeltje Jans, a man-made island in the Netherlands. It was made to facilitate the construction of Oosterscheldedam and has park attractions as well as guided tours. It was fascinating to learn about the construction of the island, and how they use preventive measures to stop flooding on the island. Although this was a cool site to see, I wouldn't recommend going here on your own. If it hadn't been part of my school trip, I would not have come to the island because there is not much to do, especially when the weather isn't warm. Later in the day we drove to The Hague and stayed at the Ibis Hotel City Centre. We went to the Peace Palace which is home to the International Court of Justice and saw the Eternal Peace Flame which is surrounded by 196 stones from 196 countries. It was a beautiful building and definitely worth visiting! We then went to Scheveningen Beach which was lined with tons of restaurants and bars! It was the perfect place for a cocktail and to watch the sunset! For dinner we went to Vapiano, which was like a Chipotle but with pasta!!! It was super cheap and definitely worth eating at!
Delft & Zaanse Schans
Sunday morning we left The Hague and headed to Delft to visit the Delft Blue Museum/Royal Delft. This is where the famous Royal Delft blue and white earthenware is created! We got to learn how the paintings are constructed and the process for making these beautiful porcelain figures. The guide also taught us how to distinguish between a true Delft painting, and an artificial one. At the end of our tour we got to paint our very own Delft tiles! This was the highlight of the Museum for me because I absolutely love painting! As you can see above, the paint used is black, and when it is fired in the kiln, there is a chemical reaction that turns the black to blue. I find this super fascinating and would have never known that unless visiting this museum. Later on we drove to Zaanse Schans which is a village in Zaandam right near Amsterdam. This village has old windmills, wooden houses, artisan workshops to show how clogs are made, and cheese and chocolate factories. This was a true Dutch experience and I had so much fun posing in huge clogs and seeing true windmills. I would definitely recommend visiting this cute town if you want to feel like you've been transported back to the 18th century. I even bought a pair of little clogs to take home as a souvenir! I'm glad I got to have a real Dutch weekend and learn more about my home country for the semester.