A Day In Delft

We had breakfast as usual in the hotel restaurant.  Breakfast is included in the package and each hotel has had a breakfast spread that runs the gamut from really good to amazing.  Today’s was on the amazing end.  All the normal hot stuff, fruits, deli-style meats, cheese (of course), and bread.  Lots of different kinds of bread.  This hotel even had the crenten bollen that we enjoyed from the grocery store yesterday. I may have to purchase an extra seat on the plane coming home if this keeps up.

We took off on the bikes, expecting to be riding city streets for the entire distance.  The cities tend to run together here, particularly around The Hague, where part of the journey took us.  We were presently surprised to find ourselves in a considerable amount of green space, and at one point the trail was flanked by old-growth beech trees.  It was a lovely ride, made all the more enjoyable by the near-perfect weather.

I found out later that this green space is actually the ​Haagsche Bos (Forest of The Hague).  Smack in the middle of it is the Paleis Huis ten Bosch, one of three royal palaces used by the Dutch monarch (that explains the guards and the closed gate).  Quite a lovely setting and in sharp contrast to the squished nature of the buildings in the cities we’ve been in.  This path led us past several estates and a bunch of well-to-do neighborhoods, but the palace topped them all.

Coming out of this and back into the city proper, we were greeted by lots of temporary fencing and probably the heaviest police presence I have ever seen.  Cameras were being set up, temporary grandstands lined the streets--it looked like the setup for a parade.  And our desired route took us right through the middle of it.

At one point we needed to cross the road so we asked one of the police officers what was going on.  It turns out that today is the Netherlands’ Veteran’s Day and there was indeed going to be a parade.  As a part of that parade, King Willem-Alexander would also be coming through here, which explained the police presence.  The officer told us that this would all be happening at 1:00.  It was now 10:00 and people were streaming into town, making it difficult to navigate our bicycles.  We decided not to stay for the festivities and finally found ourselves outside the parade route after walking our bikes around lots of temporary fences and concrete pylons and lots of people.

When we arrived in Delft, we parked the bikes next to the city square, which was a lot like the city square in  Haarlem.  A large open area with an impossibly large church at one end and surrounded by stately old buildings. After having some lunch sitting on a low wall next to the church, we entered the church and paid the €12.50 a head to take the tour and climb the tower.  This church has the second tallest tower in all of the Netherlands so it was bound to be a treat.

The narrow spiral stairway into the stratosphere handled people going both directions so at times we would have to squeeze past people going in the opposite direction.  No easy task since those on the inside had steps that were all of three inches wide.

Another cool tower climb and well worth the €12.50.  There were three levels that had outside access and we stopped and took some pictures at two of them.  Quite a view from up there.

"Dizzy Deb" going round and round on the spiral stairs.  It was 396 steps to the top

That church far below?  Those spires stick way above the surrounding buildings but we were far above that.

Photo-op on the first level

The view straight down.  I wonder how many cameras have been dropped from up here.

A little bit later, I took a picture of the church from the square to see where we were and could see people on the level above the bells and the clock, where we were earlier.

Inside the church, there is a funeral monument to William of Orange, who, in the 1500’s, was the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish and resulted in the independence of the United Provinces, later the Netherlands.  He is interred in a basement room reserved for royalty, lying beside such names as Queen Wilhelmina, the longest reigning Dutch monarch.  

We strolled through the market square, where lots of booths were set up displaying items that were several levels above my pay grade. We’ll have to go the low-rent district to find something that I can afford.

Went to find a Delft factory tour listed in our program for the day, but when we got there it was an empty building with a sign in front of it, advertising some new apartments.  So on to the only other choice, Royal Delft, which is really the only game in town.  In fact, it is the only remaining Delft factory in the Netherlands. We were getting a little late in the day so we were a bit rushed on the tour, and we pretty much closed the place down.  We were able to see one of the workers hand-painting a picture on a piece.  The paint goes on black and only turns blue after it has been fired.  Of particular interest was the full size Delft representation of Rembrandt’s Night Watch, done up on 430 tiles.

Royal Delft pieces are often given by the royal family to other dignitaries and heads of state, so, as you can imagine, it is pretty pricey.  It’s the hand-painted stuff that is really expensive.  Transfer-ware, done using a printing process and mass-produced, is far cheaper.

One room of their facility is a studio with paintings of flowers in Delft vases.  Very striking and colorful.

We were outside of town and getting hungry, so rather than go back into town and search for something to eat, we stopped in the cafeteria of the IKEA store located right next to the hotel.  A little later on, we ventured out to a nearby grocery store for a small box of chocolate ice cream and enjoyed it in the hotel room.