Delft

Mondays in Europe are sad for me– that’s when all the museums are closed. While we hit the main highlights in The Hague, we thought it would be fun to check out Delft. (Literally, on the opposite end of the tram line we took to the seaport, Scheveningen.) Most people know Delft from Delftware, the blue and white porcelain from the 17th century, (that was really copying from Chinese Ming Dynasty porcelain.) While there were plenty of souvenir shops with copies and companies still claiming to make Delftware, we went to check out the town center. Like so many old cities in Holland (and Belgium), there was plenty of beautiful architecture lining the quite canals. Really, this place is so beautiful.

See:


The center square has two main buildings flanking the marketplace; the Town Hall, and the Old Curch. Their placement is reflection of the age old battle between church and state. The Delft church has a very tall church tower.


DH and I climbed up that bad boy. See the level right above the clock? Yup, we were up there. We lost count of the incredibly steep, spiraling steps (well over three hundred). Probably because we were repeating, “Please don’t let me die” as we tried not to trip over the treacherous stairs. (Did I mention they were steep?) Whenever you read about someone in history dying from falling down stairs, and you look at your own staircase at home, you may think, “Well, maybe if they were carrying something heavy, and had been drinking, and you hit your head just right, maybe you would die.” These are the staircases that historically would do someone in. Think tight corkscrew, with no landings, entirely made of stone. One misstep, one misjudgment of the worn treads, and your body is bouncing around like pinball. But it was all worth it to see this:

Just incredible. You would see The Hague, and Rotterdam off in the distance. As a bonus, we now had another excuse to drink beer. (Not that we really needed it, of course.)

We wandered some more and saw the locals getting ready to watch their home team (who beat Italy 3-0) in the Euro-cup. The cafes set up televisions all along the square. (Holland plays France next, who went 0-0 with Romania.)

Hup Holland!

(Can someone explain to me the logic of having an Internet café and having zero computers with a USB-port? I’m supposed to type everything at the café? How do I upload my photos? I am not happy. I just got access to the internet, hence the fifty posts at once. Sorry, I’m playing catch up. Scroll down to the last entry you recall reading and go up.)

Holland has gone football crazy. Holland beat Italy (World Cup Champions) in the Euro-Cup, 3-0. Purely by chance, I packed an orange shirt, so I now can blend in with the locals.

Who, me?

One of the happier moments for me so far on this trip took place at the Hague train station. I was standing outside with the luggage, while DH went to get the tram tickets. A woman came up to me, with a clipboard, and starting speaking Dutch to me. I stared at her, “Um, I only speak English.”

“No? You don’t live in Holland?”

“No, but you have totally made my day if you’re telling me I don’t look like an American tourist.”

She looked me up and down, “Oh no, you look like a perfect Hollander.”

YES!

Das Haag

Leaving Amsterdam, and our fabulous B&B, we are currently in Das Hague, or in English, the Hague. This city has a different feel, a little less picturesque in terms of old canal houses, but there’s the Royal Palace. First on our agenda was the Mauritshuis. Museums are often closed on Mondays in Europe, so we needed to squeeze this in. The structure itself is beautiful, as it is part of the palace structure. This museum was high on my list purely for the two Vermeer’s; The Girl with the Pearl Earring and The View of the Delft. At the risk of sounding sentimental, and un-academic, I loved them. Almost cried, kind of love. (Yes, I’ve come close to tears looking at some artworks. Yes, I know I’m weird.) The View of the Delft had subtle texture to it that prints just do not pick up. (No cameras were allowed, and quite honestly, with the lighting and the glass, there would be no way I could get a good photo without a glare.) And the light, oh, Vermeer captured it dead on. DH knew I didn’t want to go, so he claimed “his feet hurt” so we could sit and look at them some more. I have a bad feeling I’ll be looking at some Raphael, or Titian in Italy and mutter, “Well, he’s no Vermeer” and get attacked by a hundred Italians.

Afterwards we went to the North Sea. I was surprised to find a sandy beach, in England the “beaches” along the Chanel are often filled with pebbles, not sand.

No, it was not what I would call warm, but it was relaxing to walk along the sand at sunset.

Haarlem

One of my son’s friends reminded me about the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem. DH was up for a day trip, so off to Haarlem we went. Less than 20 minutes by train from Amsterdam, we came to a bustling central market square. Cafes spilled out beer-drinkers, merging shoppers and people watchers under the warm sun.

Frans Hals was an important 17th century portrait painter, typically known for emphasizing the merriment in children and the warmth in the sitter’s soul. The museum was small, yet had a special exhibit on Dirck, Jan, Joseph and Salomon de Bray.

Afterwards, we were ready to eat our picnic lunch (extras from our breakfast, need to stretch the Euros where we can.) We asked the museum guide for a recommendation, and she pointed us to a park outside the city center. It was indeed a lovely spot, which happened to be having an antique market. It was fun to look, but I just couldn’t buy anything knowing that I would need to haul it around for three weeks.

While the picnic was good, there was still room in our stomachs to sample the local fare. We were happy to find these:

We snagged these happy Belgian Fries, five minutes before the stall closed. Now if your mind is thinking “Eww… McDonald’s fries and Miracle Whip?” I can tell you that it is nothing like the aforementioned (vile) combination. First of all Belgian Fries are made from fresh potatoes, and fried twice, once at a lower temperature, and then at a higher temperature. The result is a crispy fry, with a tender, fluffy interior. The mayonnaise is a creamy contrast. Reflecting cultural influences, there are other sauces as well, including ketchup and curry; but I like to keep with tradition. And if you’re thirsty after the fries, then you need to drink this:

Local Beer. DH had a darker larger, I had a “white” beer with lemon. The Dutch, like so many European cultures, have mastered the café life; drinking a beer (or wine, or coffee), meeting with friends, and watching the world go by. I will admit that it was almost hard to “just sit there” and drink a beer. My mind was still easing into vacation mode. Shouldn’t I be doing something? (I really wanted to break out my knitting, but I knew this would not be blending in.) I think this is something I’ll have to work on.

We wandered some more, finding a windmill, and later getting lost on the way to the train station.

We can now say we’ve walked the streets of Haarlem at 11 pm, totally unafraid and unharmed.

Say Chesse

When we visit DH’s (Darling Husband's) family in Wisconsin, we bring a small cooler, to fill up with cheese curds and cheese we just can’t get in Colorado. Image my joy to find this:

Oh Baby

This is how one announces a birth in Holland:

Amsterdam

I really like Amsterdam. Most people think of the red-light district, and a certain green-leafy substance, but that is really only one side of this amazing city. We are staying at a bed and breakfast near Vondlepark, (Amsterdam’s Central Park), away from the train station and tourist traps. Our inn-keeper is a charming woman, Monique, who spent ten minutes training us on how to use the key for the front door.


Getting around the city and communicating is fairly easy, since the majority of people speak beautiful English. (This is what happens when an educational systems values other languages.) If someone starts speaking Dutch, just smile with a polite, “Hello” or “Sorry” and they’ll switch right to English. I joked with DH, it’s like finding a button on a remote control, and the language changes.

This is the second time we’re visiting this city, so our “to-do” list of sites is much less taxing. We’ve already hit the Rijksmuseum (which is still being renovated), the Van Gogh Museum, Rembrandt’s House; even the Anne Frank House. Our agenda – to relax and get into vacation mode; so we took a nap.