Courts, Cords, and Casinos (oh my!)

Day One of the honeymoon is coming to a close, and it is hard to express how good a single day can be. We started our day early by catching a train from Leiden to nearby The Hague. The trip itself was less than a half hour, and incredibly easy to do. We were especially impressed by Holland's double-decker trains! We have never seen a train that was two stories high!

Janne and the double-decker train in Holland.

The afternoon continued with a visit to the headquarters of the International Criminal Court. Although we were unable to get a tour since tours must be booked weeks in advance, we instead sat in on one of the public hearings. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is the first permanent, treaty based, international criminal court established to help end impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community. The court was considering allegations against a Congolese military leader accused of recruting child soldiers for violence.

While the experience was not necessarily the most uplifting, it did help us to visualize and better understand how and where important trails such as the above example take place.

ICC Headquarters in The Hague

After learning more about the International Court, we made our way to Scheveningen Beach for a COMPLETELY opposite experience. Bungy jumping.

As a wedding gift to Tyler, Janne planned out an afternoon on the beach including taking a big jump together through Bungy Jump Holland. The bungy jump platform sits on top of the pier on Scheveningen Beach, right above the Atlantic Ocean. After being strapped into our equipment, we were lifted 200 feet / 60 meters to a lookout tower in which we clung to each other for dear life and took the plunge. While we are still waiting for our pictures to be developed, here are a few to help you visualize the plunge!

Scheveningen Beach with the Bungy Tower in the background.

Janne getting fitted with equipment.

Tyler getting his courage up!

The jump! (photo courtesy of http://www.digitalbreizh.net. Ours coming soon!)

Feeling good after the jump with the cord that saved our lives!

To close out the day, we thought we would celebrate by playing the 20 cent slot machines in one of Hollands numeros casinos. To be fair, we are both still students on a budget and were both super hungry after an exciting day. The world does not get much better than spending only 1 euro at the casino and getting a bunch of free food in return!

Janne and her free slot-machine food.