H/B/F 2017: Delft

Andrew and I visited Delft on Saturday after a lazy morning of sleeping in (him, he did work all week after all) and a leisurely breakfast.

Delft is on the map as home to both a technical university and the famous blue-painted porcelain. We decided to go ahead and check out the official Royal Dutch museum and factory, and we weren’t disappointed. They do an excellent job presenting the history and process of making the Delft porcelain, including seeing the artists in action. Each piece is handmade and painted and marked with a special symbol that includes the individual artist’s initials and the year, much like the Roycroft artisans’ work in East Aurora. (The Delft factory does also have a less expensive line that is not hand painted but uses transfers and does not include the signature mark.)

After the factory visit, we headed into town for some lunch. There are two churches (one of which leans due to being built on shifting sand, below), a beautiful square and plenty of canals.

Andrew and I followed Rick’s walk and ended up at the other church, which has a climbable tower…if by ‘climbable’ they mean 376 of the steepest, narrowest, claustrophobia-inducing spiral staircase steps I’ve ever encountered. (And we’ve climbed a lot of towers in the last ten years.)

After that effort, we treated ourselves to some gelato (I’m pretty sure one of my choices was actually yogurt–it seemed more refreshing) to finish the walk.

We ended our trip to Delft with drinks on the square and dinner in a square we found tucked away just off the main drag.

We decided we loved Delft (almost as much as Haarlem!) and could see ourselves staying here on a future visit.

H/B/F 2017: Corrie Ten Boom, Zandvoort, (a little) Amsterdam and Den Haag

Here’s a few more things I was up to last week:

I made sure to visit the Corrie Ten Boom house here in Haarlem. If you’ve never heard of her, think of her story as the other half of the Anne Frank story (her hide-out is in Amsterdam, we plan to visit next week). Corrie came from a long line of believers here in Haarlem, who (obviously) were sympathetic to the plight of the Jews during World War II. Corrie, her older sister, Betsie, and their father hid Jews in what they called ‘the hiding place’ in their home here in Haarlem. They even had an architect friend come in and build a real brick wall in their home (it took a week to smuggle in the supplies) to create the small space needed.

Tours are free, led by volunteers and incredibly moving. It’s clear their main purpose is to evangelize while telling Corrie’s story. She, Betsie and their father were arrested under suspicion of hiding Jews and sent to some of the worst concentration camps in Germany. Thankfully, the six people hiding at their time of their arrest were aided by a sympathetic policeman and led to safety. Betsie and their father died in the camps, but Corrie was inexplicably released and vowed to travel the world spreading the Gospel.

I was moved to tears (along with many others) by the end of the tour, and was happy to obtain my own copy of her book–The Hiding Place–there at her home.

Later that afternoon, I rented a bike and headed out to Zandvoort, a local beach about 45 minutes away by bike. The area was experiencing record temps, so anyone who could be was out on their bikes.

I copped a squat at a recommended beachside bar and drank some cold brews, snacked on a pineapple/orange ‘cookie’ I got at a local health food store and caught up on some magazine reading. (Note to self: the pineapple orange flavor combo was fantastic–must replicate at home!)

That evening, Andrew and I took a train to Amsterdam to meet his co-worker from East Aurora, Frank, for dinner. If you’ve never seen the biking action here in Amsterdam, it’s certainly an event to witness. According to our guidebook, the average family has four bikes, and in the city it’s most certainly their main mode of transportation. They even have parking ramps just for bikes!

Andrew, Frank and I grabbed a beer before finding a place for dinner. Our view:

Andrew played around in a passageway with a beautiful ceiling:

On Thursday, I jumped on a train to Den Haag to meet Andrew there to visit the Mauritshuis, their art museum featuring Rembrandts, Vermeers and Frans Hals, Haarlem’s golden boy. It is home to Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring,’ its biggest attraction. I loved the juxtaposition of both the old and new architecture in this big(ish) city full of tall buildings, people in suits and young professionals.

I arrived at the museum about 30 minutes before Andrew, and their temporary exhibit, Slow Food, caught my eye. (Of course.) I had no idea what it was, but an almost supernatural force drew me to it. (For what it’s worth, we almost never spend much time at museums’ specialty exhibitions.) Slow Food is a compilation of Dutch artists’ food-themed still life paintings from the 1600s. INCREDIBLE. Incredible. Despite their very ‘traditional’ look (I’m more of a modern art girl, myself), I fell in love with the pieces. The colors. The food. The styling. The upturned glassware. The perfectly painted reflections and play of the light. This exhibit–by far–has been my favorite of any I’ve seen, and even rivals all the Impressionist works in the Musee d’Orsay in Paris.

We spent the rest of our time admiring both the interior of the Mauritshuis (only two floors of paintings in approximately 15 rooms, all ornately decorated) and the museum’s ‘biggies.’ Vermeer painted a similar work to ‘The Girl with a Pearl Earring’ and I’ll never know why her portrait (not of an actual person) didn’t rise to fame like the other. (She wasn’t quite as pretty…)

After the museum, Andrew and I wandered over to a lively square to join everyone else for happy hour. We ended up at Café Paraplu for dinner, a little spot tucked away in a quiet corner of the city.

H/B/F 2017: my gym away from my gym

I mentioned in this post that I joined a gym as soon as we got here. I knew I’d have two weeks (really only about 7 or 8 days) to workout while Andrew was working.

On our way into town, we passed this place and I figured because of its proximity to our hotel, it would be the winner. I’d done some recon before we left and seen another gym close by, but now that I’ve walked the town, I’m glad I came across this one!

It didn’t even occur to me until I was walking into my first group exercise class that the language barrier might be problematic. While just about everyone here speaks English, their primary language is Dutch, and so the classes are led in Dutch. Again, this wouldn’t be an issue if I simply wanted to run on the treadmill and lift weights.

Thankfully, I made friends quickly and others around me made sure I knew how many reps or for how long we were supppsed to do something. I’m even planning to meet up with one of the girls I met in boot camp for lunch next week!
Today, I chose to give a spinning class a try. While I teach cycle at home, I’ve noticed true ‘spinning’ classes tend to be a bit more intense. I tend to do one ‘thing’ (sprints, climb, or run) for the duration of a song, while in spinning the songs tend to be longer (more techno than what’s on the radio) and you might incorporate more endurance or intensity for longer segments of the song. Anyway. All that to say, don’t mind my hot and sweaty face!

The gym is actually quite extensive; there is a pool, childcare, a cafe (of course), a weight room with machines, a crossfit room (below) and various studios for yoga, biking, etc.

I went three times this week and plan to go at least that many times next week, which would make my 30 euro ‘membership fee’ be less than that many drop-in visits to my Y at home. Totally worth it.

I’m having a blast working out each morning! I love to work out, I feel better when I do, and it sure helps with all the ‘vacation eating’ going on. It’s also a neat way to ‘assimilate’ to your new home while abroad.