After the first two days in Amsterdam, I headed to The Hague (in Dutch: Den Haag or 's-Gravenhage) to meet my Dutchie buddy and his girlfriend. Time to relax and let them take charge of my travels!
在阿姆斯特丹逗留兩天後，我於12月28日前往海牙，與我的荷蘭好友及其女友會合，開展一個由他倆一手安排的行程。
Although everyone knows that Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands, the Dutch government is actually seated in The Hague, together with the parliament, royal family and corps diplomatiques. Our first stop in The Hague was at the Binnenhof (Inner Court), where the two chambers of parliament, office of the Prime Minister and various other government offices were located. At the centre of Binnenhof stood the Ridderzaal (Knight's Hall), where the Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands would give the royal speech at the start of each parliamentary year.
雖說阿姆斯特丹是荷蘭首都，海牙卻是荷蘭政府、國會、皇室及各國外交使節所在，而我們前往的第一站——海牙內院（Binnenhof），就包含了國會兩院、總理辦公室及其他政府機關。內院中央是騎士之廳，每年荷蘭女王都會在議會年度開幕時在那裡發表演說。
One of the entrances to Binnenhof
內院的其中一個入口
A panoramic view of the courtyard inside Binnenhof 內院的廣場
One side of the Binnenhof is the public entrance to the Tweede Kamer (the Second House or Lower House of parliament), while the other side is the Court Lake (Hofvijfer). The Prime Minister's Office overlooks the lake from the corner of a row of buildings by the lake, and can be easily recognised as it looked like a round tower with a steep roof. No surprise then it is called het Torentje (the small tower) in Dutch.
內院的一側是荷蘭下議院（或稱第二議院）的公眾出入口，另一側是內院小湖（Hofvijfer），總理辦公室位於湖的其中一角，有個尖聳、形似圓塔的建築內
The Tweede Kamer
第二議院
Het torentje (Office of the Prime Minister) 總理辦公室
The Hofvijfer (Court Lake) 內院小湖
'Where's your dad, Jantje?' - the character of a Dutch nursery rhyme, standing by the Hofvijfer.
「Jantje，你爸在哪？」—— 荷蘭童謠人物，站在湖邊
Afterwards we paid a visit to the Escher Museum, which hosted many masterpieces by the artist M.C. Escher. Mathematicians would no doubt be particularly interested in his work, which made extensive use of tessellations, illusions and impossibilities, and the impossibilities could often be spotted only upon close examination. His work was mainly produced by lithography after carving on wood, with details so exquisite that his landscape paintings were almost perfect matches to the actual scenery. The top floor of the museum exhibited other pieces of art work featuring illusions and re-creating some of Escher's works in new multi-media formats.
我們之後參觀艾雪博物館（Escher Museum）。艾雪是個畫家，唸數學的人會對他特別感興趣，因他的作品不少以密鋪平面、錯覺及不可能物件為特色，而且是要細心觀察才能看出不可能之處。他的作品，大多先用木刻，然後用平板印刷而製成，圖案及線條細緻，而他的風景畫更可與真實媲美。博物館最高層，展出了其他有錯覺效果的作品及把艾雪傑作以多媒體作嶄新演繹。
Some of Escher's tools
艾雪用的部分工具
Landscape paintings 風景畫
Chandeliers 吊燈
More tricks for your eyes! 究竟你其實看到甚麼？
Lunch time soon beckoned, but the three of us had to work hard for the meal! We went to the well-known seaside district of Scheveningen in search for a good seafood restaurant that the girl in our group had been to some time ago. We had to go for a walk by the beach, under cloudy skies and cold wind gusts. The beach was actually filled with quite a lot of people (but no one was silly enough to go into the water, of course!) It's not the kind of weather that I would associate with the beach, but obviously the Dutch people don't think like me!
參觀後，午飯時間又到，不過這頓飯得來不易！我們前往海牙有名的海灘區席瓦寧根（Scheveningen），尋找一家好的海鮮餐館，但得取道海灘才可到達。那天天陰兼颳起陣陣寒風，我可不會想到在這種日子在海濱流連，但海灘並不冷清（當然海中沒有人），荷蘭人看來挺能頂冷！
Fortunately time passed rather easily as we had good chit-chats along the way, and we've finally found the place after half an hour.
幸好一路上大家都有說有笑，風餐半句鐘後，終於可以飽餐一頓了！
I was very interested in the raw herring (haring in Dutch) that was considered a good old Dutch delicacy, so all three of us ordered one each. Herrings are very abundant in the North Sea and are very nutritious, as they contain a high amount of omega-3 and other fatty acids. My Dutchie buddy said that kids would be smarter if their mum consumed a right amount of herring during pregnancy (a feel-good statement about the Dutch themselves!) but it could also be too much of a good thing if the mum had too much and ended up ingesting a significant amount of the pollutants accumulated inside the fish.
我對荷蘭人鍾愛的生吃鯡魚（Herring）甚感興趣，於是三人各要了一尾。鯡魚在北海數量甚多，而且營養豐富有益，尤其是omega-3及其他魚油含量特高，荷蘭好友謂，孕婦多吃，小孩也特別聰明！（他當然不會放過炫耀自己國家的任何機會吧！）不過他補充，吃得太多也會有吸收海中污染物之虞。
The way to enjoy a herring is well illustrated by this sculpture.
吃鯡魚的方法，正好由此雕像示範。
But if you still don't understand, here's a real-life demonstration!
不然看以下真人示範亦可！
We braved the cold again after lunch, and went onto a jetty to take in the views. To our south, we could make out the port of Rotterdam, which is not very far from The Hague, and many container ships passing by the beach were obviously heading there. The pink patch in the sky marked the agricultural area of Westland which was full of greenhouses, and the colour was probably due to the large amount of lights emitted by the greenhouses. (Have a look at this satellite photo if interested!)
飯後再回海灘「吹吹風」，我們走到堤上賞賞風景，向南一望，離海牙不遠的鹿特丹港遙遙可見，海灘不停有貨櫃船駛過，相信不少是前往鹿特丹的碼頭。天空中粉紅色一片，源於海牙以南溫室滿佈的Westland地區，使用大量燈光所致。（有興趣者可看此衛星圖。）
As dusk gradually descended, my Dutch friends quickly took me to the Peace Palace (Vredespaleis in Dutch) where the International Court of Justice was located, followed by Paleis Noordeinde (North End Palace) which is the work place of Queen Beatrix.
天色漸黑，兩個荷蘭朋友趕緊帶我瀏覽海牙國際法庭所在的和平宮，及女王辦公的北宮殿（Paleis Noordeinde）。
International Court of Justice and the World Peace Flame at the gate
海牙國際法庭及正門外的和平火焰
Paleis Noordeinde
北宮殿
It was time to return to the Central Station of The Hague. On our way, we came across many high-end shops, and I thought that many residents of The Hague must be on the wealthy side. My buddies confirmed this view, and said that some people who were not as well off sometimes had to dress up so that they would look 'right'. Fortunately we were only visitors, and we all had somewhere else better to go to - their home in Wageningen. More fun times ahead!
從北宮殿返回海牙火車總站，沿路不少高檔商店，心想海牙市民中，富裕者定不少，朋友說，有些經濟環境較遜者，也得花點錢打扮充充闊，幸好我們也祇是海牙的訪客罷了。是時候跟兩個主人打道回府往瓦赫寧恩（Wageningen），休息休息，未來五天還得跟隨他倆帶的旅行團也！
在阿姆斯特丹逗留兩天後，我於12月28日前往海牙，與我的荷蘭好友及其女友會合，開展一個由他倆一手安排的行程。
Although everyone knows that Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands, the Dutch government is actually seated in The Hague, together with the parliament, royal family and corps diplomatiques. Our first stop in The Hague was at the Binnenhof (Inner Court), where the two chambers of parliament, office of the Prime Minister and various other government offices were located. At the centre of Binnenhof stood the Ridderzaal (Knight's Hall), where the Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands would give the royal speech at the start of each parliamentary year.
雖說阿姆斯特丹是荷蘭首都，海牙卻是荷蘭政府、國會、皇室及各國外交使節所在，而我們前往的第一站——海牙內院（Binnenhof），就包含了國會兩院、總理辦公室及其他政府機關。內院中央是騎士之廳，每年荷蘭女王都會在議會年度開幕時在那裡發表演說。
One of the entrances to Binnenhof
內院的其中一個入口
A panoramic view of the courtyard inside Binnenhof 內院的廣場
One side of the Binnenhof is the public entrance to the Tweede Kamer (the Second House or Lower House of parliament), while the other side is the Court Lake (Hofvijfer). The Prime Minister's Office overlooks the lake from the corner of a row of buildings by the lake, and can be easily recognised as it looked like a round tower with a steep roof. No surprise then it is called het Torentje (the small tower) in Dutch.
內院的一側是荷蘭下議院（或稱第二議院）的公眾出入口，另一側是內院小湖（Hofvijfer），總理辦公室位於湖的其中一角，有個尖聳、形似圓塔的建築內
The Tweede Kamer
第二議院
Het torentje (Office of the Prime Minister) 總理辦公室
The Hofvijfer (Court Lake) 內院小湖
'Where's your dad, Jantje?' - the character of a Dutch nursery rhyme, standing by the Hofvijfer.
「Jantje，你爸在哪？」—— 荷蘭童謠人物，站在湖邊
Afterwards we paid a visit to the Escher Museum, which hosted many masterpieces by the artist M.C. Escher. Mathematicians would no doubt be particularly interested in his work, which made extensive use of tessellations, illusions and impossibilities, and the impossibilities could often be spotted only upon close examination. His work was mainly produced by lithography after carving on wood, with details so exquisite that his landscape paintings were almost perfect matches to the actual scenery. The top floor of the museum exhibited other pieces of art work featuring illusions and re-creating some of Escher's works in new multi-media formats.
我們之後參觀艾雪博物館（Escher Museum）。艾雪是個畫家，唸數學的人會對他特別感興趣，因他的作品不少以密鋪平面、錯覺及不可能物件為特色，而且是要細心觀察才能看出不可能之處。他的作品，大多先用木刻，然後用平板印刷而製成，圖案及線條細緻，而他的風景畫更可與真實媲美。博物館最高層，展出了其他有錯覺效果的作品及把艾雪傑作以多媒體作嶄新演繹。
Some of Escher's tools
艾雪用的部分工具
Landscape paintings 風景畫
Chandeliers 吊燈
More tricks for your eyes! 究竟你其實看到甚麼？
Lunch time soon beckoned, but the three of us had to work hard for the meal! We went to the well-known seaside district of Scheveningen in search for a good seafood restaurant that the girl in our group had been to some time ago. We had to go for a walk by the beach, under cloudy skies and cold wind gusts. The beach was actually filled with quite a lot of people (but no one was silly enough to go into the water, of course!) It's not the kind of weather that I would associate with the beach, but obviously the Dutch people don't think like me!參觀後，午飯時間又到，不過這頓飯得來不易！我們前往海牙有名的海灘區席瓦寧根（Scheveningen），尋找一家好的海鮮餐館，但得取道海灘才可到達。那天天陰兼颳起陣陣寒風，我可不會想到在這種日子在海濱流連，但海灘並不冷清（當然海中沒有人），荷蘭人看來挺能頂冷！
Fortunately time passed rather easily as we had good chit-chats along the way, and we've finally found the place after half an hour.
幸好一路上大家都有說有笑，風餐半句鐘後，終於可以飽餐一頓了！
I was very interested in the raw herring (haring in Dutch) that was considered a good old Dutch delicacy, so all three of us ordered one each. Herrings are very abundant in the North Sea and are very nutritious, as they contain a high amount of omega-3 and other fatty acids. My Dutchie buddy said that kids would be smarter if their mum consumed a right amount of herring during pregnancy (a feel-good statement about the Dutch themselves!) but it could also be too much of a good thing if the mum had too much and ended up ingesting a significant amount of the pollutants accumulated inside the fish.我對荷蘭人鍾愛的生吃鯡魚（Herring）甚感興趣，於是三人各要了一尾。鯡魚在北海數量甚多，而且營養豐富有益，尤其是omega-3及其他魚油含量特高，荷蘭好友謂，孕婦多吃，小孩也特別聰明！（他當然不會放過炫耀自己國家的任何機會吧！）不過他補充，吃得太多也會有吸收海中污染物之虞。
The way to enjoy a herring is well illustrated by this sculpture.
吃鯡魚的方法，正好由此雕像示範。
But if you still don't understand, here's a real-life demonstration!
不然看以下真人示範亦可！
We braved the cold again after lunch, and went onto a jetty to take in the views. To our south, we could make out the port of Rotterdam, which is not very far from The Hague, and many container ships passing by the beach were obviously heading there. The pink patch in the sky marked the agricultural area of Westland which was full of greenhouses, and the colour was probably due to the large amount of lights emitted by the greenhouses. (Have a look at this satellite photo if interested!)
飯後再回海灘「吹吹風」，我們走到堤上賞賞風景，向南一望，離海牙不遠的鹿特丹港遙遙可見，海灘不停有貨櫃船駛過，相信不少是前往鹿特丹的碼頭。天空中粉紅色一片，源於海牙以南溫室滿佈的Westland地區，使用大量燈光所致。（有興趣者可看此衛星圖。）
As dusk gradually descended, my Dutch friends quickly took me to the Peace Palace (Vredespaleis in Dutch) where the International Court of Justice was located, followed by Paleis Noordeinde (North End Palace) which is the work place of Queen Beatrix.
天色漸黑，兩個荷蘭朋友趕緊帶我瀏覽海牙國際法庭所在的和平宮，及女王辦公的北宮殿（Paleis Noordeinde）。
International Court of Justice and the World Peace Flame at the gate
海牙國際法庭及正門外的和平火焰
Paleis Noordeinde
北宮殿
It was time to return to the Central Station of The Hague. On our way, we came across many high-end shops, and I thought that many residents of The Hague must be on the wealthy side. My buddies confirmed this view, and said that some people who were not as well off sometimes had to dress up so that they would look 'right'. Fortunately we were only visitors, and we all had somewhere else better to go to - their home in Wageningen. More fun times ahead!
從北宮殿返回海牙火車總站，沿路不少高檔商店，心想海牙市民中，富裕者定不少，朋友說，有些經濟環境較遜者，也得花點錢打扮充充闊，幸好我們也祇是海牙的訪客罷了。是時候跟兩個主人打道回府往瓦赫寧恩（Wageningen），休息休息，未來五天還得跟隨他倆帶的旅行團也！
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祝你新年快樂，身體健康！
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