Erika and Erika's Excellent Adventure: Day 4- Den Haag

Of course, as I prepare to leave Brussels the skies clear and the sun comes forth!

here's a few parting shots of the Youth Hostel Van Gogh- so named because Van Gogh lived and worked in the building from 1880-1881.

Attention: you will only get this joke if you are truly an art nerd (Belgium is the home of surrealism).

The bar! The best part of any youth hostel.

So I happily set off to reach the much closer Gare du Nord, about five minutes' walk from the hostel. In the middle of my journey, I noticed a woman visible through her window adjusting 'the gals' in generally skimpy clothing. "Doesn't she know her neighbors can see her?!" I thought to myself- then saw two women wearing even less clothing in windows across the street. Then noticed all the windows had red neon around them. I'm pretty bright like that!

Anyway, we departed for The Netherlands promptly, and immediately outside of Brussels all French disappeared. After fifteen minutes of swift travel, we sat for what seemed like forever in this dismal suburb waiting for the second driver to show up. Of course half the passengers jumped off to frantically smoke as many cigarettes as possible before returning to the enclosed space of the bus. Here's an exciting sign:

Finally rolling again, Aartselaar proved itself to be a strip mall shithole on par with Rohnert Park or Orange County. At least their bingo halls look exciting:

Sorry Holland, but this is some boring-ass scenery. It's flat as hell. I did see three miniature horses and two wild hares strolling leisurely across a field, however!

Ah, The Netherlands: friend to bikers everywhere!

Despite the delay in Aartselaar, I arrived in Den Haag fifteen minutes early! I had plenty of time to hang around the Centraal station, getting excited about ratty-looking street birds which of course were totally different to the birds we have at home. Then I met up with Anjani! Anjani and her boyfriend Anne (pronounced Ah-nuh, and yes it's a dude's name, in Northern Holland) are old friends of ours from Hong Kong. Pranjal worked with both of them at one point or another in NGO hell, and when I moved out they hooked us up with Hongkee (yes, really), the awesomest landlord ever! From Hong Kong, Anne and Anjani moved to her native Philippines, and now live in Anne's native Holland.

Anne was at work, so Anjani and I decided to head to the open market nearby, considered one of Europe's largest. On the way there we had to walk through what the locals think is a 'ghetto;' I had to laugh in return. Behold the terrifying face of Den Haag's ghetto:

The open market! It was enormous, and crowded, but I was excited to see so many beautiful, fresh, and real-looking (as opposed to our nasty GMO crops in America) fruits and veg. So cheap, too! Three avocados for one Euro! Half a kilo of strawberries for one Euro fifty! The market was a huge variety of people, too, from native Dutch to South Asian and African immigrants, and at least one Yankee tourist.

There's our cheap strawberries, down there!

Blech- one thing the Dutch are really into is fish- nasty, fried, salted, dried, dessicated fish. Bleah!

The market sells dry and wet foods, as well as a number of clothes, household items, and second-hand goods. I bought some socks with laces and tassles that look like a demented cossack. There was also one old man selling used glasses for 2 Euro- I tried on a pair just for laughs and found it was almost my exact prescription! I bought them- I'm sure I'll need them within the next five years, my eyes degenerate so quickly!

Finally, more frites! Or, as they're called here, pataat. These were from a highly-recommended shop from a local (Anne's) tip. Mine is ketchup and onions, Anjani's is the same but with mayo as well (gross!). Whoever thought of putting onions on frites is right up there with the person who discovered penicillin.

LOOK AT THIS CUTE DOG OH MY GOD!!! Everywhere I've been so far has been awesome as far as dogs go- people take their dogs everywhere, including on the metro and to bars! It's great.

Goats! There was a small pasture, inexplicable, in the middle of the city filled with goats, sheep, and cows.

City center- a beautiful pedestrianized lane with lots of tall buildings and shops!

Lookit me! I'm a German!

When the bicycle is the primary mode of transport, some interesting variations appear to help carry cargo, babies, dogs, etc. What amazed me about the bikes here is that no one locks their bikes to anything. I initially thought none of the bikes were locked at all, but many people here use a lock that looks like a large, single handcuff- it locks the rear wheel to the bike frame so it can't be ridden. Still, the fact that nobody locks or removes their baskets, bags, seats, or lights. At Ashby BART those bikes would be stripped in two minutes flat! And they'd take the bike too, whether the rear wheel was locked or not!

Arguably the highlight of our day- I noticed a fetching shirt in a shop window, depicting Anne Frank wearing a keffiyeh! Although the shop was just about to close, the keeper, a gregarious Moroccan-Dutch man, invited us in warmly and proceeded to explain the concept to us.

This store, more of a traveling exhibition of young designers, takes its name from the popular Dutch store Hema. The concept blends Arabic and Dutch cultures to promote race relations in the very tense atmosphere of The Netherlands. Thus, the store is named Al-Hema! The font is a modern computerized version of Arabic:

Although Hema was apprehensive at first ("are they fundamentalists?!"), they gradually came to accept and even support the idea. They've even donated their official shopping baskets to Al-Hema! And they've taken an interest in commissioning some of the young designers' work, such as the "burqa shower curtain," below:

Some other items I loved but didn't get pictures of were:

1. A t-shirt reading "Halal" in Hebrew on the front; "Kosher" in Arabic on the back.

2. Rubber dish gloves printed with a henna-style pattern.

3. A hijab head scarf which, with two swift movements, transforms into a sexy top!

Then we headed to the "Eko" shop to pick up some food for vegans. Check out the amazing price displays- they're all on LCD screens!

Then we went to Albert Heijn, the Tesco of Holland, to pick up a few more things. And I found what is quite possibly the most disgusting foodstuff I have ever seen:

Here I am, with my Provamel soy yogurt, in the Dutch Houses of Parliament!

The other side of the Parliament- the Prime Minister's offices are just out of frame on the left side.

Probably the tiniest house in Den Haag!

The MC Escher museum- there is also the museum which houses the famous painting Girl With a Pearl Earring, but museums here are expensive! At least seven euro to get in. I'll enjoy the street sights, thank you very much!

Anne and Anjani kindly arranged to take me to Den Haag's only vegetarian restaurant, de Wankele Tafel, or 'the wobbly table.' Anne says it's called this so you can't complain when you sit down and actually get a wobbly table. That crazy guy!

How rude!!! Actually, this says something to the effect of "cash only"- 'pinnen' means debit cards, derived from PIN.

My beer from Maastricht!

Tomato-mustard soup- AMAZING!

Sadly for me, only two menu items were vegan, and one of them had peanut sauce. So I had the Mexican bean dish!

Outside the restaurant- can you imagine a more European scene?

Now this trumps even the Smart Car! So eeny weeny- Anne says these cars are made especially for disabled folks and that the public or private health systems will reimburse you if you need one (Holland's health system is unfortunately moving towards privatization, but is still superior to the US 'system' in that it is illegal for insurers to deny care based on pre-existing conditions).