Wednesday February 9 - Another Work Day - Hotel Tours and Writing Decisions

Hospitality and Tourism students, with their buddies, pose in one of the conference rooms of the Hague Hilton.  The hospitality students toured the Hilton today, and the smaller boutique hotel the Carlton Ambassador around the corner.

After a much too short sleep, we once more rose and managed (with some difficulty) to make it out on
time.  (This year's group is excellent about punctuality generally.)  The Model UN group left first, heading to Mondriaan for the second day of conferences, and the hospitality students followed, and met their Mondriaan buddies at the Holland Spoor station (right by the hostel) promptly at 9:00 AM for a day that involved two hotel tours, a visit to the VVV (Dutch Tourist Office) and another walking tour of the Hague, this time led by a professional.

Kamiyiha West's journal tells the story:

We went to the Holland Spoor to meet up with the buddies to the tram to the Hilton Hotel where we got a tour of the room and behind scenes.  

Mondriaan student Judith Berg gives a tour of the Carlton

Stephen Phillip and Angeline listen to our guide at the Hilton

Following that, we went to lunch and went to one of the hotels that the buddies work at, named the Carlton Ambassador.  It was a classic hotel that looked more like for old people.

Also today we saw the ambassador from Malta coming out of the Queen's working palace (Nordeinde).  We saw everything that happened.  It was really cool. [Editor's Note: The marching band and honor guard were normal enough for state protocol.  But the two black carriages with footmen in Napoleon-era hats were really something else.]

The coach for tea with the Queen

The Queen's honor guard (Nordeinde)

Then we took a one and a half hour tour of what we have been seeing for the past couple of days. 
(Editor's Note: The tourist office provided a guide for the center of the Hague who was quite knowledgeable about the history of the binnenhof and the other buildings we had already seen.)

Meanwhile, the Model UN students were finishing the deliberations started yesterday.  Alicia, who was confused yesterday, wrote today:

Today was the last day of the conference and was so much fun.  Though the ideas and discussions were hard, given t chance I would do it again.  I'm really grateful that I was able to go on this trip because every day has just been exciting, from the museums, shopping, buddies, UNO, scrabble
conference...everything has been great.

P.S. I also can't wait to get my wooden clog shoes.

P.P.S. I was in the minority in writing the final decision we did but Mr. Whiston said "it's good you stuck to your opinions."
After the deliberations, the Model UN students went to visit the International Criminal Court, where they received a lot of information, but were unfortunately unable to view a trial, as the judge had declared the session closed to the public due to sensitive information.  Their guides were extremely thorough though, and the Model UN students staggered into the StayOkay at about 5:30, nearly an hour after the equally tired Hospitality kids got back from their walking tour (which ended with a walk back to the hostel).  The weather remains chilly but today was mostly sunny (except for a brief period when we emerged from the Hilton to go to lunch, and got to see the bright colors of the Queen's ceremonial guard escorting the ambassador from Malta in a Cinderella coach).  It is supposed to rain tomorrow, but we are hoping that the forecast is wrong, and that the weather holds out for our tour of Delft tomorrow.




Signing off, tired but happy,

Rebecca Pawel


P.S. Today's photos are courtesy of Angelo Nunez, as I forgot the SD card for my camera this morning after leaving it in the computer for blogging purposes.