European holiday...Two palaces in two days.

Last week, we booked tickets on line to have a guided tour of Vredespaleis, the Peace palace in den Haag. Do do this, we had to fill in our details, name, address, date of birth, and include our passport numbers.
Then the tickets were emailed to me, but with no method of printing them, I took a screen shot to show on the day.




We all needed to take our passports, in case we were asked for identification.

This palace has just celebrated its 100th anniversary, and is home to the International Court of Justice, which is the principal judicial body of the United Nations, and to the permanent Court of Arbitration. This monumental building also houses The Hague Academy of International Law. It was created as a "dream palace for world peace". It is a place where countries can solve their conflicts in a peaceful manner by means of legislation, arbitration and mediation.






Many countries donated building materials and amazing works of art, Germany made a donation of these beautiful gates.





The second palace we visited was Palais Het Loo, the favorite hunting seat and country palace of Prince Willem III of Orange, and his wife princess Mary II in the late 1600's.
In the 18th century it was used by the royal family as a hunting seat and summer residence. Later it became the summer residence of Louis Napoleon , brother of Napoleon I, and King of Holland. After the French left, Het Loo was assigned to the head of state as a summer residence, by an Order of Council in 1815. In 1970, the decision was made to turn the palace into a museum.




There was an ice skating rink set up, so the young ones enjoyed a quick skate, while the older ones enjoyed a quick coffee.




The braziers were set up and lit, and small logs to sit on had lamb skins in place for warmth and comfort. You can see that it was not freezing, as most of us are without hats.





In the royal stables, there was a wonderful display of sleds, sleighs, coaches, and the livery worn by the footmen and coachmen. Included also were the cars that had belonged more recently to the royal family.
This sled was especially made for Queen Emma, who was the second wife of King Willem III, the mother of Queen Wilhelmina.





We enjoyed a wonderful tour of the palace itself, complete with an audio tour. This was so educational, we learned all about the history of the palace, and the House of Orange, the ruling monarchs of the Netherlands. The house of Orange has a tradition of abdication, and in April this year, Queen Beatrix abdicated in favour of her son, Willem Alexander.









The banqueting table of Willem III...giving an impression of a festive dinner from the late 17th century. The pies were decorated at peacocks , pheasants , or swans.






This is the sleeping chamber of Mary II, (1662-1695), Queen of Britain and Ireland. In this chamber, she would receive visitors, sitting on a chair in front of the bed.
Her husband, Willem III, had his own sleeping chamber, in which he received visitors. It was decorated sumptuously, in the color carmine, which was obtained by crushing thousands of cochineal beetles.




This is a wonderful palace to visit, and the gardens are superb. There are many fountains, none of which were operating in this winter month, unfortunately.
An added bonus for us was that we were able to use our museum card for entrance. That has been a very worthwhile purchase for us.

Location: Leiderdorp,The Netherlands