We left the house on this very rainy Friday morning, heading to Delft. Our first stop was the Royal Delft Factory and Museum, where we learned all about the iconic blue and white pottery for which Delft is famous. There is an actual working factory there that we walked through. Of course we bought some souvenirs!
Plates were made to commemorate the royal family
Or to commemorate events such as the first moon landing!
This was a recreation of Rembrandt's "The Night Watch" done with almost 500 ceramic tiles. It's the same size as the original, which is just over 12' by 14'
The Delft Factory (this and next four pictures)
We headed a few blocks across Delft to visit the Vermeer Centrum museum. This museum is dedicated to learning about the art of Vermeer. While his actual paintings aren't located there, there is detailed information about his work.
The next three pictures are some of his most famous works.
"View of Delft" c.1661
"The Little Street" c.1658
"The Milkmaid" c.1661
And then, of course, we had to "jump in" some of his work!
It was then time for lunch. Since it had turned into such a beautiful day, we ate at an outside cafe. During lunch it started to pour (we were under giant umbrellas) and they gave us blankets!
David's favorite European beer
Adele's scrambled eggs, avocado and ham sandwich
Sue's chicken Caesar salad
David's tomato soup with croquette
Before (above) and after (below) he called us old bats.
Delft is a beautiful city, and we spent a little while just walking around. Here are some pics!
That's where we parked - that's water on the left! Have to be careful getting out!
Two beauties in the window
Two beauties on a bridge!
Two more beauties on a bridge!
Here are some videos of Delft.
Next on our agenda was the American Pilgrim Museum back in Leiden, a city we visited on our first day here. We learned that the Pilgrims left England due to religious persecution and traveled to a northern part of the Netherlands, and then to Leiden for a few years, prior to traveling to the US.
Replica of the Mayflower
Typical one room home for Pilgrims in Leiden
A beautiful church attached to the Pilgrim Museum where they used to worship.
Back to our rental apartment where we did laundry in the slowest ever washing machine (almost 3 hours!).
Then we went to another terrific restaurant for dinner!
Sue's mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes and lettuce in hoison sauce
Adele's melon with Serrano ham, feta and pistaschios
David's gazpacho
Sue's salmon
Adele's mussels
David's canneloni with arrugala
Dessert - Creme brulee with raspberry sorbet and meringue
.jpg)
