Haarlem

Days 32 to 40 - 15 to 23 June
Let me start by clearing up another minor (but common) misunderstanding. Haarlem is a beautiful small city in the Netherlands. It should not be confused with Harlem (a large neighborhood within the northern section of the New York City borough of Manhattan) or Spanish Harlem (a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City roughly encompassing the area north of the Upper East Side, and East 96th Street and east of Fifth Avenue to the East and Harlem Rivers) or Spanish Harlem (the song). We stayed in Haarlem for eight days, mainly to give Rhonda a chance to catch up with her relatives, and to give us a chance to see some of the Netherlands. We'll break this post down into three sections, People, Places and Other Stuff.

People
Rhonda and I had a great time during our stay in Haarlem. Rhonda's relatives could not have been more hospitable, generous and considerate. They all made me feel especially welcome and Rhonda loved seeing them and felt terrible that we couldn't stay longer. We will make a concerted effort to come back within the next few years, and would love to host anyone who can visit us in Canberra. The first photograph is of Peter, not actually a relative but a lovely man.

Rhonda, Peter (Mums neighbour) and Margriet

Han, Margot (Dad's sister) Brenda and me

Stein (Brenda and her husband Pascal's son)

Stein, Han and Lisa (Brenda and Pascal's daughter, The Hairdresser). Han was hoping for a style to make him look a little younger.

Han - not sure I like it?

Marieka (Mum's sister's daughter) and me

Marieke's husband Ray

Manon, Amber, me, Richard, Elles and Jan. It looks like everybody but me and Richard is standing on a box

Pick the short person

Me, Amber and Hans (Mum's Brother)

Astrid (Mum's Cousin's daughter) and me

Places
We stayed in a small hotel called the Malts Hotel B&B. The owners, Henk and Annemarie were wonderful and the location was great.  The only negative (not a big one in the grand scheme of life) was that there was no lift (it was, after all, a B&B), but Henk met us on arrival and helped us to carry our cases up the stairs.  As we were there for 8 nights we only had to carry our cases down one time, again with significant help from Henk. The room was bright and spacious, with an excellent bathroom. Breakfasts at the hotel were delicious with pastries, cereals, yoghurt, freshly made fruit juice and breads for toasting. We started every day well satisfied. The picture below gives an idea of the first flight of stairs.

The entry to the Hotel, steep stairs are normal for buildings in Haarlem

The Netherlands is a small country but with a lot to see and the people are lovely (and tall). The cities have interesting architecture and great galleries and museums. The countryside is mostly flat, but with a lot to see if you look for it. The water levels of canals and drainage ditches is remarkable - there is often a difference in the height of water channels of several metres from one side of a road to the other. The sky is always interesting with really 'strong' patterns in the clouds.

The main square in Haarlem

The site of Rhonda's Mum's old home - now rebuilt

Showing its age - built in 1670

A beautiful laneway in Haarlem - note the lampshades, provided by home owners - very whimsical

Shop that was formerly a picture framer's shop run by Rhonda's grandfather

Rhonda at the side entrance to the former family picture framer's shop

The shop next door - note the paving at the door - scissors (it used to be a hairdressers)

Courtyard of a Hofjies (an almshouse for older single women - they pay a small rent to live there)

Another Hofjies courtyard

Beautiful courtyard garden - the tenants love their garden

Former home of Rhonda's grandparents - the front has been renovated

We visited the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem. Wikipedia states: "Frans Hals the Elder c. 1582 – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age portrait painter who lived and worked in Haarlem. He is notable for his loose painterly brushwork, and he helped introduce this lively style of painting into Dutch art. Hals played an important role in the evolution of 17th-century group portraiture."

A Frans Hals group portrait

A corridor in the Frans Hals Museum

A doll's house in the museum - fabulously detailed interiors

Another very impressive room in the Frans Hals Museum

Beach huts on the beach at Zandvoort, on the coast

Croquettes - yummy - they might not look tasty, but the really are

Controversial building (i.e.ugly) in Zandvoort

We also visited Friesland (a province in the northwest of the Netherlands) where Ray and Marieke looked after us.

A canal in the town of Franeker

A highlight was a visit to the Eisinger Planetarium, in the town of Franeker. It's an amazing achievement. It was built by Eise Eisinga, about whom Wikipedia states: "Although Eisinga was moderately gifted, he was not allowed to go to school. When he was only 17 years old he published a book about the principles of astronomy." Makes me feel a bit inadequate.

A fairly plain-looking building, but the inside is very impressive

Below is the main part of the Planetarium, as Wikipedia states: "a working model of the solar system. The "face" of the model looks down from the ceiling of what used to be his living room, with most of the mechanical works in the space above the ceiling. It is driven by a pendulum clock, which has 9 weights or ponds. The planets move around the model in real time, automatically. (A slight "re-setting" must be done by hand every four years to compensate for the February 29th of a leap year.) The planetarium includes a display for the current time and date. The plank that has the year numbers written on it has to be replaced every 22 years. The Eise Eisinga Planetarium is the oldest still working planetarium in the world. To create the gears for the model, 10,000 handmade nails were used. In addition to the basic orrery, there are displays of the phase of the moon and other astronomical phenomena."

The main part of the Eisinga Planetarium - simply brilliant

Part of the planetarium mechanism above the ceiling

More of the mechanism

After touring Friesland we returned to Ray and Marieke's for dinner. Marieke cooked an Indonesian-style meal for us which was delicious. It was lovely to have a home-cooked meal. We also saw some of Ray's collection of Vintage Citroen cars.

Ray with his pride and joy (apart from Marieke) a beautiful Citroen

Another of Ray's Citroens

View of the sunset as we travelled back to Haarlem

Helping to keep the dyke safe

Pretty boat harbour

Me, with Han and Margot, casually standing on a bridge while Rhonda photographs us

View of the industrial part of Amsterdam - striking in its own way

Genuine windmills, the nearer one is part of a museum and we climbed up inside it - it's mind boggling what they did hundreds of years ago. The Dutch have a saying: God made the world but the Dutch built the Netherlands

They also built this indoor ski slope - we had a cuppa at the cafe

The 'skyscapes' are amazing in the Netherlands - I've never seen such beautiful cloud formations (photographs just don't do the view justice)

The view along the road at the top of the Afsluitdijk Dyke. The road along the top is about 37 kilometres long

The view in the other direction - salt water on one side and fresh water on the other

Giant snail (hard to tell from this perspective - but they are huge) near Zandvoort

Old bunker converted into a holiday home (but without water or power) near Zandvoort

The main train station in The Hague

The Hague has an interesting blend of old and new buildings

Part of the parliament precinct

We visited the Mauritshuis Gallery while visiting The Hague. It's not a big gallery, but it has a very impressive collection.

Girl with a Pearl Earring - a classic. What most people don't realise is that the pearl is huge - see the enlargement below

That pearl is the size of a football (a very small football). I'd always thought that the shiny reflection was the pearl.

This painting is very big, and very impressive. Unlike many oil paintings it looks even better as you get closer to it

Information plaque for The Bull

Close up of the cow's face - incredibly lifelike

The Prime Minister's office is in this building, seen from the Mauritshuis

Another impressive painting from the collection

Me taking a selfie in front of a Rembrandt self portrait - a selfie in front of a selfie. I've almost mastered the art of excluding my ears from selfies

A later Rembrandt selfie

The information plaque for the painting above this photograph

Other Stuff

Not a lot of other stuff, but a bit.

Really good bicycle, well set up for transporting groceries and small children

Two ordinary bicycles

The bicycles above illustrate some interesting things about bikes in the Netherlands, when compared to bikes in Australia.
1. Bicycles in the Netherlands have covers over their chains, so riders can ride them while wearing their work clothes, without getting oil and dirt on their trousers. The bikes also have mud guards on the front and rear wheels. In Australia bikes have exposed chains and no mud guards, and riders rarely ever ride in 'street' clothes - they often (far too often) wear lycra.
2. The bicycles have few (if any) gears, because the Netherlands is flat. Bikes in Australia come with about 30 gears whether you want them or not (making them more expensive to buy and maintain).
3. Everybody in the Netherlands rides bikes. Everybody in Australia has seen a bike, while driving to work.

Loved the caption on this sign!

Beautiful flower display in The Hague

A final reflection on our time in the Netherlands - driving along narrow roads. Actually we didn't drive ourselves, but we were grateful to those who drove us around (including Ray, Han, Brenda, Elles and Jan).

Driving along a narrow road - love the sky

Another narrow road

Driving along some roads in the Netherlands is like driving along a cycle path in Australia - they really are that narrow. But the drivers here do it with great skill and consideration for other road users. Rhonda and I have seen no tail-gating in the Netherlands (or in the rest of Europe for that matter). We hope that when we get back to Australia we won't be too disappointed by the aggressive and stupid drivers we'll encounter (that's wishful thinking, we're pretty confident we'll be very disappointed).

Our time in the Netherlands sadly came to an end and we flew to London for the next stage of our trip. That post will be coming soon.