Wednesday morning 3 a.m., I wake up and realize we're calmly cruising the North Sea from Hoek van Holland to Harwich, England (London). Luckily, the hard, biting winds didn't turn into rough seas during the crossing or we'd have been having a queasy time, like Sister Patsy did when she made this crossing years ago.
But wait, I get ahead of myself!
It's been a bit since we last posted, so here are a few highlights of the world we discovered and views from a walkabout on our last day in Amsterdam:
A view of our breakfast room at the Rembrandt Hotel. What a pleasant way to start the day!
This photo of missiles in motion was only half the picture; there are 3 more lanes like this on the other side of the tram. And we confirmed with a train conductor, the bicyclist has right of way over every other person or vehicle in the Netherlands. And a little factoid: there are about 750,000 people in Amsterdam but over a 1,000,000 bicycles!
A rainy day walk to the Anne Frank House.
Anne Frank standing tall for her message.
A walk through Anne Frank's house is a transition to mixed emotions of shock, surprise, anger, sadness, outrage, wonder and thankfulness among many others. I can't describe the sadness I felt when I walked through the bookcase hiding her family above. But this website can show you the transition in 3-D, so maybe you can experience a little of it yourself.
Later that same day:
Delft
We checked into Hotel Leeuwenbrug and were surprised to see more modern accommodations than we expected.
Then we found the local award-winning cafe, Stads-Koffyhuis...
...and couldn't leave without sampling their peach custard pie with heavy cream. Ooh la lah!
The Old Church in Delft...
...is not to be confused with the New Church in Delft, which was built only about 100 years after the Old Church in the mid-1300s. Of course the members of the Old Church were quite peeved about this endeavor, but wisely didn't act on their feelings.
View from inside the New Church looking across the square to, what we think is the palace.
Eventually, as The Dutch fought for control from invaders, Willem van Oranje was killed in the Old Church in 1584, and has been called the Father of the Netherlands. He is interred in a massive tomb in the New Church, which has come to be the center of all Royal ceremonies ever since. In fact, all the Royals are buried there.
Willem van Oranje...
...with a dog at his feet. This dog symbolizes the strong loyalty the Dutch feel for Willem and his Oranje family descendants including Queen Beatrix today.
Good night, Delft.
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