Die Niederlande
Thursday October 12th I took a train to Delft in the Netherlands, where I met a friend of mine from high school who has family friends there. Her friends were a really nice and engaging older couple who work at the university there. This is their house:
While in Delft, Elke, our hostess, gave us an incredibly thorough and informative tour of her town, including several interesting recent buildings on the university campus (one which appears to be submerged in a hillside) and many beautiful old structures from the era when Vermeer and Rembrandt were alive and painting there -- the former was born and lived much of his life in Delft. It was particularly interesting how the only ancient part of the city, packed tightly and surrounded by the few remains of what had been a wall & moat, seemed like a city apart from the more spacious and in parts modern counterpart beyond the walls. We had beautiful weather Friday, and managed to zip over to the Hage in the morning before this tour. Here is the gates to old Delft:
[It was actually a very odd experience crossing the German border on my connection train and hearing Dutch for the first time. While in writing the language has a number of similarities to German (almost understandable), the pronunciation differs SO much that it only 2 or 3 words in a long ramble made any sense to me.] I found this instructional decal equally strange, and commical (I don't think i've even given that much attention to pushing a button):
Saturday afteroon took us 2 hours back across to the country to Enschede, nearly on the German border (poor planning on my part led us here 2nd rather than 1st). Here we spent the night and toured the city and local campus with another of Becky's family friends:
In addition to enjoying a pleasant dinner with Henny and Wim, and their adult son who came by for our visit, we were encouraged to visit their daughter (and granddaughter) in Utrecht, whom Becky had likewise not seem in many years:
After taking leave of Jannika and little Franka in Utrecht, Becky and I departed for Amsterdam...
[In retrospect it was unfortunate that we didn't spend more time in these smaller cities/towns, because they seemed to have a richer sense of culture, and were not as polluted (both literally and figuratively) by the prevailing tourist bent of the big city]
While in Delft, Elke, our hostess, gave us an incredibly thorough and informative tour of her town, including several interesting recent buildings on the university campus (one which appears to be submerged in a hillside) and many beautiful old structures from the era when Vermeer and Rembrandt were alive and painting there -- the former was born and lived much of his life in Delft. It was particularly interesting how the only ancient part of the city, packed tightly and surrounded by the few remains of what had been a wall & moat, seemed like a city apart from the more spacious and in parts modern counterpart beyond the walls. We had beautiful weather Friday, and managed to zip over to the Hage in the morning before this tour. Here is the gates to old Delft:
[It was actually a very odd experience crossing the German border on my connection train and hearing Dutch for the first time. While in writing the language has a number of similarities to German (almost understandable), the pronunciation differs SO much that it only 2 or 3 words in a long ramble made any sense to me.] I found this instructional decal equally strange, and commical (I don't think i've even given that much attention to pushing a button):
Saturday afteroon took us 2 hours back across to the country to Enschede, nearly on the German border (poor planning on my part led us here 2nd rather than 1st). Here we spent the night and toured the city and local campus with another of Becky's family friends:
In addition to enjoying a pleasant dinner with Henny and Wim, and their adult son who came by for our visit, we were encouraged to visit their daughter (and granddaughter) in Utrecht, whom Becky had likewise not seem in many years:
After taking leave of Jannika and little Franka in Utrecht, Becky and I departed for Amsterdam...
[In retrospect it was unfortunate that we didn't spend more time in these smaller cities/towns, because they seemed to have a richer sense of culture, and were not as polluted (both literally and figuratively) by the prevailing tourist bent of the big city]
posted by Andrewfred at 1:01 PM
1 Comments:
Wow, it sounds like you are having many fun adventures... Although I'm wondering how the teaching is going, as I haven't seen much mention of it on your blog. Or hasn't it started yet?
I love all your documentations of quirky signs. One of my favorites from my travels abroad was the "Humped Zebra Crossing" sign in Stratford. I kept my eyes peeled, but I didn't see a single humped zebra anywhere nearby... alas!
Also, I received your Cinnamon Lollipop postcard/poem, and very much enjoyed it. Thank you so much for sending it! I loved the poem and found the tunnel image apt and mesmerizing, and at the same time freeing.
I had fallen somewhat behind on keeping posted on your adventures via your blog, but I am all caught up now and hope to do a better job in the future. I am glad to hear that you seem to be settling in and finding your way around and everything. I hope that all continues to be well.
Also, I sent the Echoes stuff off to your parents a few weeks ago, so they should have received it by now, hopefully. If you check with them and they haven't gotten it, let me know. But anyway, you should have a friendly little package of DVD, soundtrack, and CD waiting for you when you get home. And don't worry, it's the one where your tie was flipped up during one of your entrances, so you can admire your Person's nonchalant, windswept fashion sense. :-)
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