Wednesday October 30

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.

Tuesday October 29

Today we took the train back into Amsterdam.  We went to the Holocaust Museum and the Resistance Museum.  I only took the one picture at the Holocaust Museum, it is an art installation made up of wooden suitcases, one to represent each child that went to the artist's primary school, that died in WW2.  Most died as children, some were former students that were in their early 20's during the war.  Each child's name, along with their place and date of death is recorded on a suitcase.  There are 172 suitcases.

The museum is in a former teacher's college.  Next door was a day care.  When the war began, the day care was closed to non-Jews.  Jewish children whose parents were being held at a theatre across the street, awaiting transportation out of the city, were cared for at the daycare.  The woman in charge of the daycare began communicating with the head of the teacher's college.  He eventually was responsible for smuggling 600 Jewish children between the ages of infancy to 12 years old, out of the daycare, over the hedge and into the college, where they were smuggled out by Resistance workers.

I don't have any photos from the Resisitance Museum, but it was extremely educational, both about the timeline of the war in the Netherlands, and about the Resistance.

A few more of my new favourite things:

We took a canal cruise to end the evening.

And once again, it was a joy to return to Haarlem.

Monday October 28

This morning we walked to the Haarlem Centraal train station for the 20 minute trip in to Amsterdam.  Just a few people ride their bikes to the station every morning...

Brad wanted to walk to the museum, but I insisted on a tram ride.

First stop, the Rijksmuseum.

They have a bit of a library.

We saw many examples of silver...

furnishings...

tapestries...

one of Rembrandt's most famous paintings, The Night Watch, which is undergoing scanning for conservation...

and of course, my Vermeers...

I found my next tea set and the dress I need to wear as I sip my tea...

Seen on the canals - a garden and three parking barges full of bikes.

Bike parkade down below with 1270 bikes currently parked.

We also visited the Amsterdam City Museum.  This gives you an idea of how far below sea level various parts of the city are.

Dam Square, the biggest square in Amsterdam.

Looking up a canal towards Amsterdam Centraal train station.

It was very peaceful to return to quiet Haarlem.

Sunday October 27

I will start today's post by telling you a few things that I forgot about yesterday.  Because I always forget something.  I tried horsemeat sausage in the market, and it was actually quite good.  I couldn't bring myself to buy any though.  The butcher told us that it is not eaten in other parts of Holland, but it is a regional delicacy here I guess.  We did buy beef sausage however, and cheese and breads so we could take lunches with us on our wanderings.  Our hosts presented us with a gift bag full of goodies - we won't have to stock up on sweets for awhile!  And they cooked dinner for us - homemade soup and croquettes.  Delicious!

On Sunday Rob, Imca and Thea took us to Den Haag (The Hague).  We went to Madurodam, which is a miniature city full of models of many of the famous buildings found throughout the Netherlands.  I was impressed with all of the hands-on activities to keep kids of all ages busy, or let off steam, from playing with small boats in a water trough, to operating a hand pump that sprayed water on a freighter to put out a "fire", to kicking a soccer ball around in an enclosed area.

Right around the corner from Madurodam is Interpol.

We drove past the Peace Palace.  It contains the International Court of Justice of the United Nations and the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

We saw the main square, Het Plein, where I had the freshest mint tea I've ever seen in a restaurant.  There are many embassies, consulates and government ministries around the outside of the square.

Next we visited the Dutch Parliament.

And lastly we drove along the beach.  Unfortunately I didn't get a good picture of the surfers in the water.

To end the evening the five of us went out for tapas.