Mother's Day Out - Den Haag

For quite some time I had planned a day-trip to Den Haag, the city where the Dutch government is seated.

One of the many interesting sites of Den Haag is the Vredespaleis (Peace Palace). 

This building celebrates it's centennial this year. Today the Peace Palace houses two main institutions:

the Permanent Court of Arbitration and the International Court of Justice 

The International Court of Justice is the primary judicial branch of the United Nations, and it is the only primary organ of the United Nations outside New York. 

Unfortunately, as I went there on a normal business day, it was not accessible for visitors.

It is a kind of office, after all.

(Guided tours are offered on saturdays, if there are enough requests)

But there is a visitor's center, where general information is provided by audio tours in many languages, and there is a little shop where they sell books and - yes: postcards.

To my surprise they had small packages with a set of cards - and a sheet of stamps, published by the Vredespaleis as Dutch "private stamps".

And here we come to another special item of the International Court of Justice:

They have got their really very own stams, which can only be used for ICJ office mail, and

they have got an own post office, where their mail is stamped.

Of course, they have their own cancellation, too.

As I happened to have a few of those special stamps I asked the friendly ladies at the visitor's center if they could mail some cards for me via the "Court mail", and it was no problem.

So I had a lunchtime picknick on the "peace" border and wrote postcards in the autumn sun.

What a peaceful day!