Our new patterned Delft plate
After our appointment, it was time for lunch. We saw on TomTom that the city of Delft was just a ten minute drive from our location, so we decided to take the opportunity to travel to this famous town. As soon as we entered Delft we were struck by the beauty of the canals, the hoards of people out and about on their bicycles, and the old canal houses. It was like a mini-Haarlem! We found our way into the town center by looking at the old church in the centrum, and parked on the edge of the canal. There were no metal bars or posts to help the car from falling into the canal, and one inch too far and we would've been in the water! We walked into town and found the Grote Markt. We settled on a tiny cafe on the markt, and sat in the back room at the top floor. The cafe was gorgeous and every ounce of it oozed Dutch beauty. The tables were all covered in thick patterned carpets, reminding me of my Oma and Opa's home. The walls were flanked with candles and old oil paintings of Vermeer's "Girl with the Pearl Earring" were everywhere. (Vermeer was from Delft!) After some cappuccinos our lunches arrived. I had a ham and veggie sandwich with a bowl of steaming hot tomatensoep. I had ordered chicken soup, but luckily they had ran out and I received tomato soup instead! It was wonderful because it tasted exactly like the tomato soup my Oma always made for us, complete with small spaghetti noodles and pieces of beef. Yummmmm! After lunch we wandered around the canals, looking at the swans and popping into little shops.
"Girl with the Pearl Earring"
We visited a pottery house off of the main market, where a woman was sitting hand-painting some jewelry boxes with cobalt paint. She helped us pick out a beautiful oval serving plate to use in our new home! We continued on, enjoying the liveliness of this quaint city. Gabriel and I were surprised at how many restaurants and shops there were here. My favourite shop was an antique store near the Markt. It sold old Dutch ice-skates and individual Delft tiles from the 1600s and 1700s. These tiles all looked like the Delft tile I received from my Oma and Opa.
As we made our way back to the car, we noticed something fluttering on the dashboard. A parking ticket for 52 Euro! After successfully maneuvering out of our parking spot literally on top of the canal, we got onto the highway and joined in the "Spits" (rush-hour traffic here in Holland).
An unexpected and welcome adventure in the wonderful Dutch town of Delft!
2 comments:
Very cool you took the opportunity to go check out Delft! I have still yet to do this, but it's on my plan for this year. Have you been to the Keukenhof? I strongly suggest in April you see this. The gardens are so beautiful! It's different than I thought, but my photos even tell a different story from what I saw with my bare eyes. If you happen to get the chance this year, it's a must-see ;-)
I hope you continue to feel better!
Yes I would definitely recommend visiting Delft for the day, it's different than other Dutch towns (sometimes I feel they look very similar to one another) and of course the pottery is beautiful :)
I haven't seen Keukenhof yet! Last year we missed tulip season by a few weeks, but it's number one on my list of things to see this spring. I've heard it's every photographer's dream...
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