Finally, a Stroll on the Beach

Us, being in love
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We were crisp and to-the-point about our packing for Amsterdam as well as coffee and pastry with Kees and Chuck, so we took a quick tram ride out to Scheveningen to walk along the beach. Today is the first warm and sunny day since we arrived in the Hague and while it is far windier standing at the edge of the North Sea, it was still lovely.

We walked down the beach to the pier which creaks out over the water, ending in rusty, beshambled casinos standing on what look like second-hand offshore oil rig platforms. Atop the enclosed pier/mall is a boardwalk offering sweeping views - toward the built-up, Euro-spa condo and hotel world to the southwest and the more undeveloped dunes heaped along a curving shorline to the northeast. We spotted the hill where Mesdag's panorama is centered (see yesterday's adventure) - now topped with apartment complexes affording no chance to compare the two views.

We walked down the beach to the pier which creaks out over the water

Watching the ships and sailboats
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A quick stroll down into the 15th-century fishing village, now a locus of highly organized (and lucrative) quaintness, and we made it back in time for lunch (already our third meal of the day) after which we head to the train station for a fast ride to Amsterdam. See you there?