Den Haag and a Break

The last day in Amsterdam we opted to spend in The Hague for a change of pace and to see a different part of The Netherlands.  We left on the 11:11 sneltrein that took about an hour from city to city.  First, I had to take a picture of a canal in Amsterdam.

While on that train, I found a song on my ipod that I didn't know I had that I now love...a lot.  It's called "Mirrors" by Natalia Kills.  It's only 69 cents on iTunes...so I recommend it.  So, we got into The Hague and saw skyscrapers.  Those are so rare in Europe it's exciting to see them.  We walked around and saw some pretty buildings.

We then decided the only thing we really wanted to spend money on was the Peace Palace, the home of the International Criminal Court.  This is like a big deal and I didn't want to miss it.  The Hague is POSH.  I mean it is like very expensive looking, the stores are crazy.  Tommy and crew, if you know what I mean.  Any who, we were really in a laid back mood and just sat in a park looking at a pond for a while on the way to the Peace Palace.  There were Canadian Geese...I thought that was cool.

We got to the Peace Palace and looked at this cool rock garden with the World Peace Flame in the middle.  Each country that is "striving" for peace donated a rock.  Here it the one from the USA (it was one of the corner stones).

Here is the "World Peace Flame"

So, we went up to the guard and found out that we needed to make reservations.  Sad.  But, the building was really cool and I'm glad I can at least say I saw it.

We then walked slowly back home.  On the way, I decided to skip Brussels to try and save some money because I didn't NEED to go there.  So far it has worked.  I've gone about 48 hours and only spent like 20 Euro, which is good.  We ate at a McDonald's and a cheeseburger was 2.25 Euro.....CRAZY.  We got back to Amsterdam and just peaced out the rest of the night.  Went to the library and used some internet and walked along the canals some more.  In the morning we had breakfast again at the hostel and left The Netherlands.  

We started on the same train, but Braden got off in Duisburg and headed down to Lambrecht, Germany for his conference that he has to do for his scholarship and now I'm sitting in Jena.  I finished "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens on the train arriving in Jena and cried to myself as I walked home.  It was very sad and very good.  I was really excited to watch the Glee episode...but found out it was about Justin Biber and then I was less excited...but it wasn't that bad.

My favorite thing right now is when Braden sings this (skip to 2:40):

It's really funny and makes me incredibly happy.

Today I got to have lunch with my friends from Jena, so that was good that I got to see them.  I'm in the middle of doing laundry and then I'll repack.  Tomorrow I set off for Zürich all by myself and then meet up with Braden in Milan on Sunday.  I have to go to Augsburg tomorrow...so that's kinda fun.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do for the rest of the night...but it involves spending no money :)