Places We Go : The Netherlands, part 1

Welcome back! Hope you had a great October. I've been out exploring beginning in early October when John, Jim and I flew to Amsterdam. As my friend, Carolyn, summed it up, "It was a great adventure with a dash of danger." You'll understand when I tell you we also visited Venice, Milan and Paris. More about that later as I'll be sending a Sunday post about each of those cities. For today, let's check out The Netherlands, part 1. And just so you know, I could easily live there.

(note to self: remember to take a photo before you start to unpack.) We stayed at the Carlton Square Hotel in Haarlem. Haarlem? We'd heard great things about Haarlem - a minature Amsterdam with a population of 170K, less than a 15-minute train ride into Amsterdam and the city positioned us closer to other places we wanted to see. It turned out to be perfect. Let's take a look.

Built in 1307, the Grote Kerk is adjacent to Grote Markt, Haarlem's central market square. Prior to the Reformation, it was a Catholic cathedral. Major interior renovations were done in the 15th century. The organ was built in 1735, which made it the largest pipe organ at the time with over 5,000 pipes. Mendelssohn, Handel and a 10-year old Mozart (in 1766) all played the organ.

We spent a showery morning at the Saturday Grote Market. This handome truck sells turkey meat.

I couldn't get over the Amaryllis stems - 5 for $11.17. Like me, I know you would have bought an armful if you lived there.

Suriname, formerly Dutch Guiana, achieved independence in 1975. We met a few Surinamese taxi drivers who told us that Dutch is still the official language of the smallest country in South America.

A fresh egg stand and a unique bicycle. Some raincoats are sold with side zippers enabling dryer bike riding in the wet. Our first lesson about Dutch bike riding was when our taxi driver from the airport schooled us about bicycle lanes. As did most everyone we encountered the next few days. Between the sidewalk and street, cylists in their bicycle lane take no prisoners and do no stop if you're in their way. Unlike here, they do follow traffic signals. Haarlem city center doesn't allow cars but does allow bikes on most streets. Whew! And see the brick paving? All streets in Haarlem are paved with the most intricate brick designs. They really are a thing of beauty.

After the market, a stop in a crowded cafe. Dutch hot chocolate is a real "thing," with dense cocoa, real whipped cream and chocolate pieces that soon melt.

On the only really rainy day, we took a taxi into Amsterdam. It's about a 20-minute ride (in between rush hours) and costs about $40. Divided 3 ways, it's less expensive than a train. I found it both sweet and amusing that more than one Netherlander apologized for the rain.

One of highlights of this trip was going to a movie. American movies are shown in their original English and subtitled in Dutch. It's a great way to get out of the rain but the real treat was being inside the most amazing movie theater I've ever been in. The Koninkliijk Theater Carre opened in 1887 mainly for circus performances. Its main room holds 1700 but we went upstairs to an inimate art deco movie theater done up in the early 1930's. Hand painted circus murals decorated the walls. We sat in velvet covered loges (each seat number was embroidered on the seat back) with mahogany drink tables and small lamps illuminated the space before the movie started. It was easy to imagine being dressed up and drinking martinis while watching a movie. I loved all touches including the heavy metal cast pulls on the doors leading into the restrooms.

After the movie, we continued on our adventure. A docent in the Mauritshuis Museum reintroduced me to Nyntje ("little rabbit" in Dutch). You might know her as "Miffy." Created in 1955 by artist Dick Bruna in Utretch, NT, there's even a Nyntje children's museum as she is so well loved by the Dutch and the world. The docent suggested we go to a Hema store to find a good selection for sale. Hema is the Dutch version of our Target, right down to emloyee red shirts. We did eventually make our way to a store in Amsterdam. It was pouring rain and our enthusiasm was waning. We knew we were in the right block but it turned out to be in a modern, underground shopping mall, completely hidden below the beloved Dutch architecture above. Once we were headed down the escalator, all was good. Here's John holding my purchase - a ceramic Miffy bank.

After that, we went to the store I REALLY wanted to visit as I've been following on Instagram. There's J&J outside with their wet umbreallas. They were such good sports, game for anything - a traveler's dream!

The Kramer, Kunst and Antiek Tile Store is famous for having one of the largest antique tile collections in the world, about 500,000 pieces, dating from 1600s to modern times. I asked if I could see tiles with rabbits. They had three in the store and none looked even close to a rabbit to me - more like small foxes. One was priced at about $200 and for a tile from the 1700s, it seemed reasonably priced but it wasn't likeable.

I loved how old pieces spilled out onto the tile floor.

As you might know, I love blue&white so I loved almost everything.

The store is also a Royal Delft official dealer. Since I was born in the Year of the Rabbit, I brought home little Nyntje.

We finished our rainy day in Amerstam with a rifsttafel - an Indonesian rice table in celebration of John's birthday. Indonesia was colonized by the Dutch from 1602-1942, starting with the Dutch East Indies Company. Frankly, we were disappointed with the food and we all forgot to take a photo. The dutch beer, however, was delish! Next week, we'll explore Delft and The Hague which have their own distinctive personalities. In the meantime, Happy Sunday!