I hope you enjoyed our little walk through the tulips. I’m still having a hard time deciding which picture to enlarge and frame (because, how could I not?). What do you think?
Anyway, continuing with our travel tale, we left our bikes in Edam and made our way to Delft, a charming little college town right outside of Amsterdam. It just so happened we arrived on King’s Day! That’s right, it was King King Willem-Alexander 50th birthday and the whole country was celebrating in orange style.
Despite the celebrations ensuing, we were on a mission to see what we needed to see, so off to the potter we went. If you’ve ever happened across some gorgeous blue and white Dutch pottery, chances are it came from Delft. A short walk from our hotel, the factory/store was an enlightening walk through what is thankfully not a lost art.
The guided tour, free with admission, explained the history of the pottery, and allowed access to the work spaces, and watch the evolution from plain to pretty.
And got a sneak peek at some special editions and other designs,
and actually got to see one of the artists, wielding his magic wand.
Of course when it came time to walk through the shop, I wanted everything, but settled on a vase. Still, so many beautiful options.
After the tour, we took to opportunity to join in some of the King’s Day festivities. And had to grab a snack, obviously.
However, tired from our travels, we waited until the next day to really explore, once the festivities died down and things were a little back to normal.
Of course we had to climb to the top of the New Church (there is an old church and new church and from what I gleaned on the trip, they were only built like 150 years apart. So, not that new, nor that old. The good news is that entrance to one gets you entrance to both). The view from the top was quite pretty!
It is a worth a trip to walk through the old church, if only to learn the history of The Netherlands, none of which I knew, or at least remembered. Walking around town, we did realize that there something about that old church that seemed…eschew.
The town is a network of canals, so the obvious thing to do is to take a canal tour! It was a really great way to see the city, learn some history and appreciate some of the adorable architecture that you might otherwise miss just walking around on your own.
While neither of us were blown away by Dutch cuisine, we took a break from the tomato soup and goat cheese routine we’d established to hit up a local Indonesian restaurant- and boy are we glad we did! I cooked Indonesia so long ago that I forgot how awesome those flavors were! There are a few in the area (remember, colonization?), but we really loved our experience at Redjeki.
We got the sampler menu because, really, who can choose?
Why aren’t there more Indonesian restaurants around here? I guess I’ll have to go back.
Sad that our trip to this little town was cut short (and that The Tulip Trip was over), it was time to head home. While our time in Delft was brief, it was lovely and should you be in Amsterdam for a sec, I highly recommend heading out of the city to check out this nearby town.
Varwaal, Holland!
