Rotterdam and Delft

What a great day today was. It was an "early" start for us as we needed to be at the Rotterdam cruise boat terminal by 10 am - which was only 10 minutes away. For some reason I wore shorts when I was planning on wearing pants.  Everyone else was wearing pants and some had winter coats on. (A bit extreme yes but it was our coolest day yet - about 67.) After sitting on the top, open air deck for about 5 minutes, we headed inside - which was a better place anyway. There were floor to ceiling windows and we could sit at a table. Since the cruise was 2 and half hours long, this was lovely.

We crusied up and down many "streets" (I don't know the term for this in water language) and saw so much. Everything is so big! Three quarters of all the trailers (from 18 wheelers) go through Rotterdam. They're stacked 13 high all along the water. The cranes are enormous. There are recycling yards for stainless steel that are massive. We saw the dry docks for the huge boats - one with a boat in it getting repaired. Rotterdam is the third largest harbor in the world.

While on the boat there were two sets of Opa and Omas with grandkids on either side of us. One had two boys about 8 and 10 who were perfectly behaved. Oma had a hard time staying awake. The other family had 4 boys (15 to 8) and that Oma had her hands full with the youngest. She was very busy saying "don't do that". Opa just sat there and stared out the window. I can see that the younger kids would be quite board with the cruise. After about 10 minutes, they've seen it. It was very good to hear  "Opa and Oma" again and made me miss the grandkids. Some day we'll take them on some kind of outing.  :)

After the cruise there was a gift shop - really! One of the shop keepers was smoking a cigar. This is one of those things I mentioned the other day that's so different than at home. Another is that no one wears gloves when handling your food. They do "everything" and then pick up your rolls or whatever they're serving you. This bothered me the most happened this afternoon when we were at the market. We bought some droppies and the lady grabs a handful of them (everything was loose in a bin) and put them in a bag. Another lady wanted a specific color of candy and so the shop keeper sorted through the bin with her bare hands picking them out. It obviously doesn't bother anyone here but we're not used to it.

A couple of the  parking garages we've been in are amazing. They appear to be brand new and  have wonderfully painted floors and walls (today's were orange and blue - the royal colors). Today we saw a section were the cars are stored one on top of the other - long term parking. Really neat. I have pictures that will show why the garages are noteworthy.

About 1:30 we headed off to Delft - where they make the world famous Delft Blue items. It was only  15 minutes away. This is my favorite town so far. Yesterday I found my favorite "spot" - today it was my favorite town. It's just magical and market day just added to the whole experience. This was a real market. It wasn't long before we found the fish stall and had some deep fried something or other. It wasn't anything special but was super greasy! We shared one order. I don't know how anyone could eat the whole order and not get sick. As we ate our fish, we watched a man take a raw herring (just had the head and guts removed after coming out of a pail full of raw fish and blood), put chopped onions on it and ate it in two bites. Turned my stomach. With "juice" running down his chin, he reached for another - they were 3 for 5 euros. At another stall we found some of the amazing raisin buns we get for breakfast and shared one of those. This stand sold "American cookies" (looked like chocolate, macadamien nut to me) - 6 for 2 euros. (Didn't bother getting any of those.) Then we spotted the droppie/chocolate stall. 100 grams of double salt droopies and 100 grams of chocolate rounded out our market shopping.

Since we were in Delft, we wanted to see the factory where the famous Delft Blue items are made. Long story short, didn't do that but instead went into a store where the items are hand painted (which all Delft Blue items should be) by the woman who owned the shop. We chatted with her for a bit and learned a lot. The smallest items were quite expensive but beautiful. I did find a small plate for $10 in another shop that will sit on our bookshelf at home. It says it's handmade - which I doubt is the same as hand painted.

Right on the market sqaure was the New Church (late 1300s) and a few roads over was the Old Church (1200). Both, of course, started out as Catholic churches and now both are Dutch Reformed - and still have church services each week. The New Church was built after a begger saw a vision of Mary while in the market square. Someone else confirmed this and so a massive church was built. This is the church where the royal family is buried. There's a huge undergroun crypt at the back of the church. The first burial was in 1614 and the  most recent was Queen Juliana in 2004. There's a model of what it looks like - you can't go down there. Lots of rooms with shelves and coffins. William I's massive tomb is above the crypt. It's something to see. Lots of wonderful royal history (in English!) and several 9" thick Bibles from the 1700s were in the church.

The Old Church actually looks newer (on the inside) than the New Church - all the walls are bright white. The painter Vermeer is buried in this church. He died without any money since his paintings didn't become valuable until after his death. How sad it is that he never knew that his paintings became so famous. One of his is the "girl with the pearl earring". 

I was so inspired by all the history of the Dutch royals that I wanted to find a book on it. We found a bookstore with a small English section but it didn't have what I was looking for. There was however, a great historical fiction book about the 1200s in Europe. Can't wait to read it!

About 6 pm we headed for our hotel in Alkmaar (about an hour's drive) where we'll stay for 3 nights - our longest stay. It'll be great not to have to pack up everyday. This is actually our last hotel as we head home in just 3 days. The rooms has two separate beds that can move like hospital beds do. Dave had it as high as it could go - about 4 1/2 feet off the ground and the head and foot of the bed angled as much as he could. Very uncomfortble but made a great photo. After a short rest, we headed out to find a pancake restrauant. It was closing as we arrived - 8:30 and so will have to wait until tomorrow to eat there. We walked to what turned out to be a fish place- lots of fish this trip - where I had the worst meal of the trip: salmon ravioli. Dave really enjoyed his - beef. At 9:45 we decided not to have dessert as it would take another 10 minutes. How long does it take to put a piece of cake on a plate? Meals take a long time here, which is nice but when you're eating out a lot and just want to eat and get "home", it can be frustrating.

Tomorrow we're going to experience the Alkmaar cheese market. It takes place at 10 with welcoming comments to the crowd and ends at 2. There's a strict agenda with precise times. We have to be gone by 9:30! There aren't any clocks in the hotel rooms (a few have a mini one on the tv) so we often wake up in the middle of the night and have to turn the light on to see what time it is. This doesn't result in the best night's sleep.

One thing I learned today: It takes 5 years of training to become a Delft painter - a master painter takes another 5 (which enables him/her to do portraits).

One new thing I experienced today: Sitting in the most uncomfortable pew ever. In the both the Old and New Churches, the pews are wood and the backs are straight up. The seats are narrow but, there is a hook for your hat/purse.

Most powerful moment of the day: "Seeing" the underground crypt where the Dutch royality are laid to rest.

One pleasurable experience: Savoring the goodies at the market stalls: droppies, fish, and chocolate.