To say a lot has happened since the last post would be something of an understatement. I better get writing!

I have attended two conferences. Presented two posters. Travelled to four countries (Scotland, Netherlands, Belgium, USA). Taken six flights. Five rail trips. Countless bus journeys. Traversed two states by long distance rail (California to Oregon). And still failed to encounter a flat white. (Although I did have what was essentially a flat white masquerading as a cappucino)

It’s always tricky to know where to start when covering a lot of ground, both metaphorically and literally. Let’s begin a the beginning.

Den Haag (The Hague)

The Association of Pulmonary Pathologists Summer Meeting was held in The Hague this year (2025), which was a great opportunity to learn more about a place I knew nothing about. Not nothing, but as close to that as it was possible to be while existing in the 21st century. I was aware of the UN courts located in the city, but that was about the height of it. I didn’t even realise it was on the coast. Although you can’t fly there from Bristol, it’s only 30 minutes from Amsterdam Schiphol airport which is made even more convenient by a public transport system that supports tapping on and off with a card (most of the time, although mine did refuse to work on rare occasions). I much prefer that method to messing around with ticket machines and different fare types that seem intentionally obscure in order to trip up foreigners. Unfortunately that will mean one of the leading ways of meeting strangers, bothering them at the adjacent ticket machine whilst looking flustered, will be no more.

Our train journey was smooth and came accompanied by a lost powerbank that someone had forgotten, so a quick trip to the ticket office to hand it over, and we were on to a bus that would bring us a couple of minutes walk from our hotel. There was a NATO summit being held in the city the following week and the security presence was palpable. Our hotel was close to a number of embassies which were readily identiable thanks to additional fencing and traffic barriers.

Once we had settled into the hotel, we jumped on a tram bound for the bustling beach area (yes, there’s a beach). The weather was beautiful with temperatures in the mid-20s Celsius, and the views over the North Sea were glorious. There are a bunch of restaurants, cafés, and bars in a complex right by the beach. We ordered some ribs and a burger from De Resident and were not disappointed. We even managed to stumble upon an English cider in an attempt to order something unfamiliar; Orchard Thieves to us, but Apple Bandit to those outside the UK.

A big part of what made the city easy to navigate was the functional public transport system. It just works. Buses, trams, and trains criss-cross and cover most parts of the city. They’re at reasonable times, affordable, and easy to pay for with the tap-on and -off approach.

As much as I could wax lyrical about the public transportation (don’t get me started), there was plenty of other fun in The Hague. We had an excellent social programme organised as part of the conference.

Jenever is the precursor of gin, and is still part of drinking culture in the Low Countries. It’s distilled from malt wine and flavoured with juniper, and depending on the style (Oude/old and Jonge/young) it can have very different flavour profiles. The “age” does not relate to how long the spirit spends in wooden barrels, but rather the distillation method, with the Jonge spirit emerging later in history with changing tastes and distillation techniques. Jenever can also be aged.

The whole thing is quite confusing, but it’s a pleasant drink and well worth trying if you are in the area. The tasting at Van Kleef was fantastic as the bartender provided us with the history of the distillery (founded in 1842, only remaining one in The Hague) and other funny anecdotes between rounds. We were first introduced to the spirit on the Plymouth Gin tasting, but that was merely scratching the surface of a whole category of drinks.

There’s even a 12th of July link if you are that way inclined. King William of Orange and Mary are credited with the emergence of gin in the United Kingdom. During the Thirty Years War with France, they banned the importation of French brandy which drove an icnrease in local distillation. Jenever, which had been popular with the Dutch soldiers, began to be recreated and mutated into gin. This is also is thought to be the origin of “Dutch courage”.

Our travels also took us to Mauritshuis, the famed art museum housed in Prince John Maurice’s palace. There is an extensive collection including Vermeer’s most famous piece, Girl with a Pearl Earring. I think I was more impressed by The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp by Rembrandt, with it’s odd optical illusion; depending on your angle of observation, the proportions of the body being dissected appeared to distort.

Ordinarily I wouldn’t have been able to share photos of inside the Peace Palace during the tour we took….and today will be no exception. We had to leave all of our possessions other than identification in designated lockers, so a photo of the exterior will have to suffice.

There’s a lot more to cover and we haven’t even left The Hague. Tune in for the next installment of “The Low Countries”, and prepare to get even lower.