Steamy Amsterdam

Yesterday's weather gamble paid off, today.... well, not so much! For most of the day we were glad to not be dragging our jackets along with us. It was 83F (about 28C) and humid for most of the day. As the afternoon came on, it got noticeably more humid. This is not something that us Arizonan's are very good at handling ;-)

We started the day at the Noordermarkt - a regular market that takes place next to the Noorderkerk, in the Jordan area of Amsterdam.

You would need an aerial shot to show just how big this market is. Besides surrounding the church, today it went down another street for so many blocks that we didn't see it all.

Next to the market is Winkel 43 - known for the best apple tart in town. The crowds certainly attested to how good it was!

One of the best things was the cashier - not only cheerful and helpful, but willing to playfully teach you some Dutch as part of the transaction. I told him that he'd missed his calling and should have a sign out front that advertised Dutch lessons within.

Today was pretty free-form. After the market, we wandered "The 9 Streets" - a nearby collection of streets that have a lot of shopping that's fun to wander past.

The sticky weather made the Westerkerk a welcome spot for a rest. The church was definitely cooler than the weather outside, and they sell chilled bottled water so it was a wonderful respite. Too bad that no one was playing the organ today.

We had heard that a restaurant called "The Pantry" was a great place to eat for traditional dutch food. It's a good thing that Linda grabbed a photo before it all disappeared! The pea soup was so good, that it disappeared too fast for a photo. We each had the Menu 1 selection:

Starter
Pea-Soup with rye bread and smoked bacon 
Main
Combination of Hutspot, zuurkool- en boerenkoolstamppot served with a smoked sausage or a meatball Dessert
Vlaflip (vanilla custard with yoghurt and syrup)

 Our waiter spoke 5 languages and was a delight to talk with. The restaurant was just "unbusy" enough to allow some conversation with him.

He also came to our rescue. During dinner the steamy weather turned to outright rain - and no gentle shower either. Our next stop was a yarn shop, which was about a 20 minute walk away. As we were contemplating Google Maps to pick a route, he came out and not only suggested a better way, but insisted that we take a couple of umbrellas which had been abandoned by previous customers. We were very thankful!

The last stop of the day was a yarn shop called  "Stephen & Penelope". Linda found a wonderful wool, dyed in Ireland, called "Hedgehog" that will make for a great project. She also found this shop sample of a shawl that she really liked. It will be available on Ravelry tomorrow!

Here's a few other shots from our day in Amsterdam:

The Dutch have a thing for Nutella. Ellie would fit in well here.

Wondering what that thing is on the left side of those stairs? Why it's a track for your bicycle so that you can avoid bouncing it down the stairs on your way to the metro!

Rotterdam

We gambled on the weather today, and left the jackets in the car. Fortunately, the weather cooperated nicely and it was a wonderful day. The rain stopped while we were on the Metro on our way to Scots International Church. This was a very good thing since we were there 30 minutes earlier than we needed to be.

This church is an affiliate of the church in Amsterdam where we worshiped on our last visit. Unlike the last one, which has been worshiping in the same building since the 1600's, this building only goes back to the 1950's. The original building had been destroyed during World War II (and they had a bomb fragment on display from it's destruction).

The photos are from before and after the worship time. I wish I had captured the congregational singing - these folks can sing!

The church recently had the opportunity for a witness to their community when a park was built next door and opened the view of the church from the community. They put together this mural as a way of inviting the community and involving the community in creating it. It took 12 months of work, but it was well worth it.

After church, we visited the Maritiem Museum. They certainly have some interesting stuff related to ships and one of the world's busiest ports, but for us the big draw was the exhibit of Dutch Fisherman's Sweaters, called Ganseys.

These sweaters are reproductions of traditional Dutch fishermen's sweaters. The knitters in each fishing village developed their own patterns and you could tell where the fisherman was from based on his sweater. It's all based upon the research of  Stella Ruhe and published in a book which Linda has enjoyed. The new volume just came out last week, but we'll have to wait awhile for the English version. They were pretty amazing to see!

Next on the agenda was a visit to the Markthal - a huge restaurant and  shopping destination. This opened just a year ago, and features apartments on the outsides of the enclosed interior. We had a nice, relaxing lunch and then wandered through a nearby outdoor market before heading home for a walk around the neighborhood.

An architectural statement like the Markthal sort of fits with Rotterdam's reputation for "edgy" architecture - the "cube homes" are pretty famous.

Here are a couple of shots from our evening walk.

Rommelmarkt!

What fun today - a yard sale! Well of, course it's called a "rommelmarkt" here, and in this case it was an annual whole-village sale by the folks in Schoonhoven. We could barely find a place to park, and getting to the tables to look at things could be a challenge, but the people were very pleasant and it is just fun to be part of it all. I found a great set of hand-knit socks and Linda found a set of 4 tumblers (great since the apartment doesn't have any glasses that big).

The local church was the center of the entire thing - they took advantage of the opportunity to challenge visitors to "Get on the Level" with God. Besides this sign, they were handing out tiny level keychains.

Of course we hadn't had enough of markets at this point, so we headed to Delft in the afternoon.

Delft is one of our favorite towns. Yesterday, it seemed that it was the favorite of a lot of people! We went to visit Knotten (the local knitting shop, which was celebrating it's 4th anniversary), and the Brocante market. It turns out that the regular market was also there in the main square, and the flower market was going on as well. The town was packed full of people!

Let's Get This Party Started!

Well, I'm writing this a couple of days later than I'd hoped to. Staying awake long enough to get anything done after a day "out" has proved to be challenging. Slowly, I think I'm getting on top of things. Hydration seems to be the biggest thing.

Friday was Den Haag day. We visited the Haags Maarkt and the Mauritshuis museum.

Markets are always fun, even if  we don't buy anything. There's just something about an outdoor market that makes whatever is on sale just a little more interesting. I marvel at the logistics of breaking down a booth each night, only to set it up the next morning. It seems challenging even if it's a "permanent" market like Den Haag. I hate to think about the challenges for vendors who move from town-to-town.

Waiting for the metro from the Ypenburg P+R. What a gorgeous day! Purchasing the ticket from the kiosk proved easy since it recognized our Chip & Pin debit card.

Some shots from the market. Can you smell the herring?

Lunch wasn't herring - we opted for "Broodjes" from one of the vendors.

 

I had to  take the last shot  just because the booth was named "Mandy".

On our way to the Mauritshuis, we stopped in at a "Le Place" restaurant on the top floor of a department store. You just can't beat the rooftop views in Europe.

 
The Mauritshuis museum was pretty cool. It's amazing to think that these paintings are 300-400 years old and were so incredibly executed as well as holding up for so long. It's interesting to see how big some works are (or aren't) compared to what you think when you just see the image.

"The Girl With the Pearl Earring" gets lots of attention, but it is surprisingly small.

The frame is bigger than the painting! The stories about this painting are also bigger than life. There is lots of speculation about who she is and her relatonship to Vermeer, but it turns out that the painting is a "tronie" - a work designed to show the artist's abilities to create a particular look - and not a painting of a real girl at all.

 

This is probably my favorite painting from the museum: Vermeer's "View of Delft". There's all sorts of games that have been played with the elements of this painting to make it look quite real. It's pretty amazing to see in person.