Edam to Bergen

On the road again...
through quaint towns...
along quiet canals...
and past windmills.
On our way to our hotel in Bergen.
The following day we took a ride to the beach. This sand dune was one of the highest hills I saw in Holland.
It was a beautiful ride with Heather blooming along the way.

Haarlem to Edam

The carpool to school.
This was a day of riding ferries across the canals...
this one was free and took us about a 100 ft to the other side.
Further down the road a beautiful house lined canal.
Yes, the Dutch still use wooden shoes...occasionally we'd see someone walking through town in a pair. They are more commonly used as garden shoes.
A 4th generation pewtersmith demonstrates her craft.
These were our trail markers pointing out the way.
Another short ferry ride...
this one was either free or at most 50 cents.
Our last 30 ferry ride and a short ride to...
Edam...this was one of the cutest hotels, on a canal with a beautiful patio .
Wondering the streets of Edam...
looking for Chinese food...we found Jimmy's and after some confusion in ordering we ended up
with really tasty vegetarian food!

Leiden to Haarlem

A picture from our hotel window out to the canal as we start the day...

Case checks the map...
and we're off.

To late for tulips but the flower fields were still quite pretty.

A noon time bakery stop...can't keep going with out that daily fruit tart!

While this picture is a bit blurry, this bicycle is one of my favorites. Only in Holland!

We stop to watch a cricket game.

Upon arrival in Haarlem in early afternoon, the home owner met us and got us settled in.

This house was right off the Haarlem square and was built in the 15th century...maybe the oldest home I've stayed in. It's probably had a few remodels...Case and I stayed in an attic room with a rafter low enough we watched our heads as we passed under.

Arriving at the the Cory Ten Boom house that, still today, has a watch/jewlery store at the front with the home above.

Our tour guide was a good story teller and gave a lot of detail about the family history, their beliefs and their story. He holds in his hand the signal sign that sat in the window...when this sign sat in the window it was safe for jews to enter...if the sign was gone something was wrong and no one should enter. While the home was being searched by the gestapo, a family member bumped the sign out of the window, but soilder noticed and replaced the sign in the window.

Six people hid in the hiding place for a number of days, before being resqued...the hiding place was never discovered. The enterance was located between the bottom and second shelf in the cupboard.

Sint Bavo Kerk the center square attraction

The Müller organ in Sint Bavo Kerk, built in 1735, has been played by both Bach and Mozart. There was no concert scheduled during the time we were staying, but we got lucky, someone was practicing while we were in the church and we enjoyed listening in.

Highlights of the church included the stained glass...

and the ship models europeans hang in the Cathedrals following their christening.

Once again we'd worked up an appetite, tonight was pasta night!

Delft, The Hague and Leiden

After breakfast Gary and Gail are packing up the bikes with the New Church, or Niuewekerk as the Dutch would say, in the background.
From Delft we rode to Den Hague, parking our bikes and stopping in to see Mauritshuis (the building on the left), one of my personal favorite museums because the collection is small and contains famous works from Remebrant such as The Anatomy Lesson....

and Vermeer's Girl with the Pearl Earring.

Pampered pooches out getting 'exercize'!

Leaving The Hauge... heading for Leiden.

We rode a number of kilometers along the beach.

Upon entering Leiden, we stumbled past the Almshouse, founded in 1655 for the benefit of poor people. Until 1625 John Robinson lived in this place. His followers set sail from Leiden to America as the Pilgrim Fathers in 1620.

This evening we were all quite hungry, and began wondering around town looking for a place to eat...

while wondering through we took in the sights of town, like this bicycle. The Dutch know how to make functional bikes, or feits as they say. This bicycle is for a family with three children...two upfront and one in back. Great for a country with no hills! But, food was never far from our mind and Auntie Gail became more assertive in our hunt, asking the shop owners for recommendations...

One of the recommendations eventually panned out....

finally leading us to a very appreciated tasty meal!

Delft, Netherlands

On a break from our ride from Gouda to Delft. Taking a break at a bakery was always a highlight of the day, I (Jolene) especially enjoyed the fruit tarts.
Waterfront property isn't hard to come by in Holland, many houses have a canal of some sort on their property.

We were really happy with the location of our hotel. Right next to the square and the New Church in the center of Delft.
The New Church and tower that we climbed to the top for views....
of the square below.

We stopped at the delft factory and were given and personal tour explaining the process of making the ceramic piece, painting and firing, all the way to the finished product...
by the owner, whose father had also worked in this factory.
We admire his fathers work and Aunt Gail selects a pieces to take home.
A view from the tower of the New Church of Delft to the Old Church
The interior...
and the burial site of Vermeer, the famous Dutch artist who was born in Delft, lived his entire life in Delft and was then buried in Delft.


The Old Church is also the burial site of Anthony van Leeuwenhoek the inventor of the microscope.
Quite hungry, we filled our table full of Greek food, the waitress was surprised we ordered so much and seemed even more surprised when we ate ever morsel! We didn't ride all those miles to get skinny!!