Day 71

Cam had gotten a recommendation for the restaurant Pad Thai from some locals. We went there for lunch today. It was the best Thai food. The flavors were bold and subtle all at the same time. We wish we had checked this place out earlier so that we could come back multiple times.

After lunch we walked to the park. We love seeing all the different playground/park setups that different locations have. Below is a soccer octagon that looked like fun!

After the park we walked by the house Spinoza lived in when he was in the Hague.

We walked through more of the city. There are so many great little hidden areas in the Hague even though it is relatively small.

We stopped at the central cafe area and enjoyed a beer with some great people watching.

Day 72

Today we were headed to Maurithuis. We have gotten pretty good at wandering and eventually showing up to the place that we were planning to go for that day. Before the museum we wandered into the courtyard behind it and we were surprised by some picturesque buildings.

We eventually made it inside Maurithuis Museum. Check out some of our favorite pieces of artwork below.

Cam is single-handedly backing up all of the art work in Europe in digital form. 🙂

Part of the museum is an entire exhibit on how they retouch the art work. Including how they take off the varnish little by little and then how they restore the paint. It was pretty interesting to see this piece halfway finished.

After the museum we went back to the same courtyard area for dinner. Lots of good people watching again and some yummy food. We went with salads because the dinner menu was $$$$. But it was actually a great choice because both the salmon/edamame and the “asian chicken adventure” were both really good.

We took the long way home and walked in a nearby park. We are loving our time in the Hague.

Cam really enjoyed the building below with all the IHOP changing its name to IHOB business in the news.

Day 73

We started today at a cafe that is down the street from the AirBnb. They have good coffee and they were accommodating with our struggles speaking Dutch.

After we were caffeinated we headed into the Hague. We are close enough that it is only a 10-15 minute walk into the main area of town. On our walk we saw three kids (10-12 years old) that were headed to the train station by themselves. Parents trust their kids a lot more here than in the States.

Other things that are different here include, bikes being a way of life. There is infrastructure to accommodate them and it seems like everyone has a bike.  Every day we see funny things on bikes. Luckily today we were quick with the camera.

Today was another rainy day. It seems like each day we are destined to get rained on at some point. Unfortunately today it was while we were trying to walk home. We tried to hide under an awning for a while but the rain didn’t seem like it was going to let up anytime soon.

When we got home (mildly damp from the rain) we received mail from our host. We had finally sent in our absentee voter registration but we weren’t expecting to get anything in the mail from them. We are glad to be officially registered to absentee vote.

It was still raining at dinner time so we got delivery Indonesian. It was yummy and super cheap. We got all of this for less than 20 euros!

Day 74

Today we tried to get a little bit more caught up on this blog. It is hard to stay caught up but we are going to do better! We went to the cafe up the street to work on the blog because it was rainy so adventuring any farther away didn’t sound like fun.

Luckily the rain finally stopped this afternoon. We went to a nearby “forest” and wandered around trying to spot local wildlife and enjoying nature.

Day 75

Today is bittersweet because it is our last day in the Hague. We have really loved our time in this area. We went to Mingle Mush one last time and tried more new places. We were celebrating what a good time we have had in the Netherlands so we decided to start with dessert and got a giant Dutch pancake.

After dessert we enjoyed the ambiance for a while until we were ready for dinner. We split green curry that was quite flavorful. After dinner we planned to enjoy the comedy night that they were hosting. But then we realized it was all in Dutch so we adventured home.

Day 76

Moving days are hard. We have said this a bunch of times. Moving days to a new country are even more exciting (read: terrible and exhausting). But we started today with a good feeling that this would be a better than usual moving day.

We arrived to the train/bus station early and waited for our bus. This was more a bus stop than a bus station. There were lots of confused people and we were asked by strangers for directions twice. We aren’t sure why people assume that we know things but this often happens that strangers ask us for directions or help.

As we were waiting for our bus it was pretty unclear which one was ours and/or if we were in the right place. The app seemed helpful when it said that our bus would be white instead of ‘Flixbus green’. Our bus was a little late so we basically ended up asking each driver at the bus stop where their bus was going. Which was a good thing because when our bus arrived it was green not white, and it said it was going to Amsterdam rather than coming from Amsterdam.

We made it to Paris! A few hours of bus sleeping and some podcast listening later we finally arrived in Paris. Our AirBnb wasn’t available until 10PM so we headed to check out the Eiffel tower (with the huge backpacks).

Katie was more than excited enough for both of us to see the tower. We ate crepes and enjoyed the views and people watching around the park.

So in the park there are these guys that sell wine, beer and cigarettes. Basically just trying to make money off of gullible tourists.

We were enjoying the people watching including the guys selling booze when one of them came over and set down his bucket. We said, “No, we don’t want anything.” He proceeded to put his jacket over his bucket and ask if we were going to be there for a minute because he was going to leave his stuff with us. Katie asked, how he knew we wouldn’t take his stuff. He said something along the lines that we looked like good people. He then left his whole bucket with us as he ran away…

Luckily he eventually came back. He had gone to the liquor store to buy a pint of whiskey to sell from his bucket. It was a weird experience to say the least. But another example of people randomly thinking we’re trustworthy.

We chilled by the tower until it was time to go to the AirBnb. We took the train there and found it pretty easily. Our host doesn’t speak English but she is very friendly.

Day 77

We started the day in the new AirBnb working on the blog before adventuring out into the city. We were pretty productive and almost got caught up!

After some blogging we headed back towards the Eiffel tower and the touristy areas. We didn’t have any specific plans but rather just a directions!

Part way through our walk we got hungry and started looking for a cafe. Luckily there is no shortage of those anywhere in Paris. We found Cafe Mareva! It’s actually a healthy-ish restaurant with lots of gluten-free and vegan options.

After getting food we wandered around towards the Louvre/Eiffel tower/touristy areas. Check out the pics/captions below to see where we went.

Everyone know the Arc De Triomphe is “down the street” from the Louvre. Something we learned today is that the street is very long. We walked from the Louvre to the Arc de Triomphe in what seemed like the longest walk ever. There was lots of good people watching and some interesting window shopping along the way.

After the Arc we needed to get dinner. We looked up nearby cafes on TripAdvisor and headed to Paris Follies which was listed as mid range expensive and close by.

At dinner we struggled through the French menu and ordered without help. We also managed to get tap water by asking for “carafe d’eau” with a terrible pronunciation. Our waiter appreciated our efforts though and was kind. Two other American’s sat down near us and asked for a menu in English. The waiter’s response was, “We don’t have one. They managed with the French menu” as he motioned to us.

After dinner we wandered back in the direction of home. Paris at night-time is beautiful so we weren’t in a hurry. We meandered through the city and saw some more good views.

We stopped for a drink at Arts and Metiers (A&M). We were already at over 30,000 steps for the day so after a drink we decided to take the train home rather than adventuring back up the hill by foot.

We already love Paris and we’re excited to see all the touristy and less touristy things the city has to offer.

France Netherlands