Today was much more relaxed. We stayed in Haarlem, and started by touring the Corrie ten Boom House Museum. Corrie wrote the book The Hiding Place, which I had read as a teenager. It was interesting to see her home and hear her story again.
They broke away the wall to show the small hiding space. Mostly people rotated through to other safe houses, but 2 men and 2 women lived in the house permanently. On the day they were betrayed, 2 members of the Resistance were also in the house. The 6 of them hid in that space for two days and nights before the coast was clear and they could escape.
Next we went to St. Bavokerk. It is truly magnificent inside. Here you can see how thick the walls are.
The gorgeous wooden ceiling.
I would love to know when this was carved.
The doors to the choir.
The organ is one of the world's most historically important organs. It was built between 1735 and 1738. Mendelssohn and Handel played it. So did 10 year old Mozart in 1766.
More beautiful carving.
We weren't expecting to find this on the other side of Haarlem! If it is not clear, it says Hudson's Bay. No we did not go inside.
I hit publish too soon on this post so I am editing to add:
Our friends invited us to their place for a traditional Dutch dinner of meatballs and gravy, potatoes mashed with carrots and onions, potatoes mashed with leeks and bits of bacon, and sausage (I can't remember the Dutch names for the dishes!). It was delicious, we had a lovely evening visiting with Thea, Rob and Imca, they reminisced with Brad about Barry (Thea's partner), and then we had a video call with Barry's daughter Astrid in New Zealand. It was lovely to finally meet these friends of Brad's, and now we are family. It was a tearful good-bye, until we meet again.
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