Day 11: Return Home

Day 11: Return Home

            Well, our luck from yesterday ran out.  Day 10 was going to be my last entry, but I had to add our return home.  The day started out as miserable as yesterday was beautiful, with heavy rain and cool temps.  The flight was fine and actually got in 45 minutes early.  We briefly thought we might catch the 1pm Dartmouth Coach.  Then things started to fall apart.  The passport control line was a mile long.  But as we approached the booth, we noted that if our luggage was through, we still had a fighting chance.  When we got to the luggage carousel, we waited and waited and......

We were eventually told that all the luggage had been off loaded.  There were still about 60 people waiting for luggage!  We later found out (thanks to our sleuth, Marty) that the luggage had been sent to Detroit.  Go figure. So then we got on line to put in a lost luggage claim.  Fortunately, we were close to the front of that line.  Otherwise, we may not have made the 2:55 shuttle.  Well, we are on the way back to Grantham and as long as the Dartmouth Coach doesn't breakdown or Marty's car won't start, we should make it-sans luggage.  Good thing we have clean underwear at home!

Some Random Thoughts about our trip:

1.  Dutch people are really tall.  We saw several in the 6'6" to 7' range.

2.  The Netherlands is very clean and neat. Even Amsterdam was pretty clean for a major city.

3.  If you plan to travel here (and this may hold true for the rest of Europe soon) some places do not take our credit cards.  They now require a special electronic chip with a pin number.  This is true for the trains (VERY IMPORTANT) and many smaller shops and restaurants.  So far, not a problem at major hotels of bigger restaurants.

4.  The houses in general have little in the way of curtains, and you can see into most houses.  The houses almost look like model apartments, everything in just the right place.  Reminded us a little of the movie "The Stepford Wives".  The people, though, were for the most part very nice and helpful.

5.  Cycles are everywhere.  Cycling in the city appeared to be tricky, but out in the country it is beautiful, even for non-cyclists.  It is flat as a pancake.  Walking in the city can be dangerous.  You really have to watch out for cyclists.   It is easy to forget that there are dedicated bike lanes            and we all had a tendency to wander off into the bike lane while walking.  They do not stop!

6.  The barge part of our trip was a great way to see parts of the country unavailable to most tourists.  The reaction on people in Amsterdam's faces was interesting when we told them we were going to Friesland.  Everyone gave a beaming smile and told us how lucky we were. 

7.  Although Le Boat says no prior experience is necessary to captain a barge, I would disagree.  If you plan to do this, I would recommend having someone aboard with some boat handling skills and at least 2 strong deck hands.  I would be more comfortable, now having done it  (so I'd be happy to hire out as your skipper as long as I could have my 1st mate aboard), but even with a fair amount of boat handling experience, I found there was a lot to absorb and get used to.

Day 10: Delft

Day 10: Delft

            Our cab arrived bright and early, and we were whisked off to our hotel near Schipol Airport in well under 2 hours.  The cab was more than quoted (supposedly because he took us to the hotel and not the airport), but it was well worth it- it saved us a lot of schlepping.  Our rooms were not ready, so we left our luggage with the concierge, and took a shuttle to the airport to get a train to Delft.  Our timing could not have been more perfect.  We got to Schipol and knew just where to go to get train tickets.  We had to take a train to the Hague and transfer to Delft.  The Hague train left two minutes after we got our tickets, and the Delft train left from the track adjacent to us on arrival in the Hague about 1 minute after we arrived.  We couldn't believe our luck!

Delft is like a quaint Amsterdam with several canals and beautiful squares.  Delft's major claims to fame are its  2  Protestant churches, Oudekerke and Nieuwkerke, the burial site of William of Orange who led a rebellion against the Spanish that established self rule in Holland, and Delft pottery.













We walked into the town center passing a Hillel Huis (House) we assume as part of the university of Delft, and an old synagogue that has been restored and preserved, though no services were being held even though it was Saturday morning.  The entire town was out along the canal in this area for a giant flea market that was going on.  We perused the assorted kitsch and nearly purchased an antique Delft plate, but decided to keep our options open.  They were not cheap, and since we knew very little about authentication, feared we might be getting ripped off.  Marty did buy a broken old tile that was purportedly from the 18th century.  The two churches were very impressive and upon leaving the Oudekerke, we came upon a pair of newlyweds having wedding photos taken.  They left in a beautiful white Rolls Royce (which we later found at city hall in the town square).

       

The Delft factory is about a mile from the city center an easy walk for us seasoned trampers.  The weather was spectacular and the walk took us through a residential area of Delft.  The homes here were small but beautifully maintained and the gardens in the front of the houses were quite something.  The Delft factory was very Disneyesque with an audio tour that combined movies with moving 3-D figures.  The story of Delft porcelain was very interesting with its beginnings in China.  Blue Chinese porcelain was brought back to the Netherlands by early traders as well as privateers and rapidly became a big hit in Europe.  The art of producing this porcelain was soon adopted by artists in Delft and this became the center for production with over 30 factories throughout the city.  In the 1700's the British modified the production techniques for porcelain (Wedgewood China) making it faster and cheaper than that of the Delft artisans.  This all but destroyed the market for Delft Blue and all but one of the factories went out of business.  The only remaining factory was the Koninklijke Porceleyne Fles (the Porcelain Jar).  


In 1876 Joost Thooft, a delft engineer, bought the factory with the intention of restoring the old tradition of producing hand painted Delft Blue. Joost Thooft added to the trademark his monogram JT and the word "Delft‟. As a token of appreciation for the attempts the company had been making since 1876 to restore the fame of Delft and the ceramics industry in general, the term "Royal‟ was granted to the Porceleyne Fles in 1919 and it is now known as Royal Delft.  The tour was an excellent marketing ploy because we now own a beautiful Royal Delft plate as a memento of our Netherlands trip.  Toby and Marty started out buying a mass produced tile as a trivet, but then added to their order the same tile with the official trademark on the back for display.  After our purchases, we sat and had coffee, basking in the afternoon  sun in their garden until they through us out at closing time.

          
We strolled back toward the city center and found a courtyard surrounded by outdoor cafes (Beestem Markt) and picked a small Italian restaurant  for our last dinner in the Netherlands.  It stays light until 10ish so dining outside was very pleasant.  There was an enormous amount of activity in the market square with young children playing, boys playing soccer, and even a fraternity hazing (the fun kind).  The Dutch make excellent Italian food.

 Our return trip was as easy as the trip out, hitting trains and shuttle perfectly with almost no wait time.  We really have to learn how to do mass transit better here. The day was about as perfect as one might ever hope for, only wish Molly and Dave had been able to enjoy it with us.  A perfect end to a great vacation.

Day 9: Back to Woudsend

Day 9:Back to Woudsend

We awoke to the finest morning yet, bright blue skies, warm temps, and NO wind.  Sadly, we had to say adieu to 1/3 of our crew.  Molly and Dave left  right after breakfast to catch a train from Sneek back to Amsterdam.  Nice to be able to walk to the train staiton. 

            The stalwart remaining foursome fired up the engine and began our trip back to Woudsend, the Le Boat base. the weather was perfect for travelling by barge on the canals.  We did had only one minor blood pressure elevating time when we had to idle for an eternity waiting for a bridge to open.  The canal was very narrow here and there were large work boats docked on either side.  I was sure we were going to smack into something.  Finally the bridge opened, Marty caught the wooden shoe and deposited a euro, and we were again on our way.  Our friend, Milt, would have loved this part of the trip.  There were loads of waterfowl that we could see and more that we could hear, even over the engine noises.  As we approached Woudsend, we ran into (not literally) loads of sailboats heading out to the Heegemeer, the large lake we crossed at the start of our jouney.  At times, it appeared that the sailboats were sailing on land, an optical illusion due to the narrow crisscrossing canals and the flatness of the terrain.

                                                                Coming into Woudsend from the north was very picturesque with 2 windmills, the clock tower, tons of sailboats, and the drawbridge.










When we reached the base, I was thrilled to have plenty of room to dock.  I had visions of having to back the boat into a tight docking spot and spoiling a great day.  But, since most of their boats were out, we looked like pros.  Jeri stood in for Dave perfectly, Marty continued his excellent deck hand maneuvers, and Toby didn't fall overboard, so all in all, pretty all right.

            It was still pretty early, so we decided to take our bikes into town and explore.  As we passed the flour windmill, we noted its door open, and an open sign on it (thank goodness for the Dutch copying our language).  We parked our bikes and went inside.  The miller and his apprentice were inside grinding wheat and we were able to climb up into the windmill and watch the process.  Don't tell Dave and Molly, but we all thought this may have been the highlight of the trip!

After a thousand (not figuratively) pictures, we climbed back down and went next door to a small bake shop run by the miller's wife.  We thought about bringing home a few sacks of flour for Brendan, but the 50kg bags were too big for a baggage.  

We bought some cookies instead. Back on the bikes, we explored the town, winding in an out of small streets dead-ended in canals.  We then found a major bike path that went on forever.  We could have ridden back to Sneek  easily. Jeri was even considering a cycling vacation here.  The weather started to turn at this point, and it looked like we would be in for some rain, so we decided to head back to town.  In the town center along the major canal we found the other windmill used for sawing wood.

Nearby, there were loads of small sailboats docked.  I found out that this was a sailing school in the summer and boats for hire in fall and spring.  All the boats had a long wooden pole (about 10-12 ft long) lashed to one of the stays.  It had a knob on one end and what looked like the end of a shuffleboard stick at the other.  I confirmed my conjecture that this was a Dutch motor with a kid that was working on the boats.  The canals are so shallow that the pole is used when the wind is not on your side.

          




We started back to the boat just as the first rain drops fell, and were quite damp by the time we returned.  We spent the rest of the time until dinner, checking out with the base manager (no glitches), packing and straightening up the boat, and drinking and eating our remaining wine, cheese and crackers.  We walked back into town for dinner, and fortunately, the rain held off.










We decided to have our last dinner in Friesland at 't Ponkje, which translated from Friesian means the offertory bag (like a collection plate).  The restaurant is in a tiny old church from the 1600's.  It was converted to a restaurant about 50 years ago.  Much of the original appointments were maintained as part of the restaurant like the choir stall is now the bar, and the organ loft, additional seating in a balcony.  The food and service were great, and we tried some Friesian delicacies liked smoke eel (yes, even Marty had it and liked it!).  In all of Friesland, at dinner, there are three dishes  served family style with the main course, a potato, a salad of shredded cabbage like coleslaw, and a vegetable, here we had chicory dish that was delicious.  They had pretty hand painted plates with scenes of Woudsend on them sitting on the table and Marty couldn't resist a purchase.  We were tempted, but were holding out for a possible piece of Delft pottery, and thought we would have too much additional weight.

            The walk back was dry and the temps were pleasant, and it was nice to walk off some of the dinner.  The final night's scrabble game started very well for the Cohens, but after a 60 point deficit, the Kurtzs took off the gloves and came back with yet another win in their column. We celebrated by finishing our strawberries and whipped cream with a kind of strawberry shortcake made from the cookies we bought from the miller, the liqueur we bought in Sneek, and the strwaberries and whipped cream.  The game took longer than anticipated and we didn't get to sleep until midnight.