Surreptitious photography

Thursday

The Peace Palace in the Hague houses the International Court of Justice, the Permanent Court of Arbitration and the Hague Academy of International Law. For such an important and grand institution, I thought the Palace was quite modest and surprised that the security guard's mementos and calendar were the first things to welcome a visitor into the building.

Both the ICJ and the PCA were relatively small rooms with simple chairs and no desks nor bright lighting for the opposing parties.

No photography and mobile phones were allowed in the building.

The Japanese room was lined with Japanese tapestry, Brazilian wood, Turkish carpet and had Thai urns and Chinese vases in the corners.

A modern rendering of the Justice lady, sans sword, blindfold and scales. She also had large manly hands and feet.

That night, there was more surreptitious photography as I tried to take a photo of the guy that looks like a thumb (after the eponymous Facebook group) who was a roadie at the local Leiden gig. It was refreshing to see local talent - especially The Long Conversations and the Closet Orchestra, which had a cellist accompanying in the background.