Saturday, February 7, 2009

This morning came really early. Kyler and I wanted to go to the market before going to Delft. I needed some vegetables and he needed some cheese. I picked up a bag of bell peppers. It had four peppers for 1.25 Euros. I thought this was a good deal and the peppers looked very fresh. I went to pay the lady and as I was getting the correct change, I saw some mushrooms. I asked for some of these as well. She then told me my total was 2.25. I handed her the money and we were on our way. About a half hour later as we were almost back to our residence, I realize that the lady must have not charged me for my peppers. I got way to many mushrooms to only be a Euro. But by this point, it was too late to back to the stand. We had a quick lunch and then Kyler, Joel, Sara, and I went to Delft.

I was unable to be as prepared as I wanted to be. I only had a list of sites and their addresses. I didn’t get our map and route figured out but I decided we would just find our way around. We got off the train and walked around a little while. As we walked around, we wished Steef was there to explain all the history. Delft is similar to Leiden. Both cities have universities, have a similar population, and are full of history. Delft has two very large churches of historical importance. These are the Nieuwe Kerk and the Oude Kerk or the New Church and Old church. The old church’s tower leans about 2 meters or 6.6 feet past vertical. We decided against paying to go to these. My travel book said that it really wasn’t worth the fee and we had other things we wanted to see. It was interesting just to look at these enormous buildings.

With our museum card we were able to visit the Museum Het Prinsenhof for free. This museum about the eighty year war with Spain is a former convent. It is also the location where William of Orange was killed. He was a prince of The Netherlands and helped lead the revolt against the Spanish. He was assassinated on July 10, 1584. There are still holes in the concrete walls where he was shot.

After the museum we decided to explore the city a little bit. Kyler, who is really into music, stopped at a record store. Joel, Sara, and I went to Delft’s open air market. It was similar to the one in Leiden but there were also some differences. We were a little hungry and Sara suggested we try patat. These are basically thicker french fries served with mayonnaise. At first I thought they were very good. But as I continued eating them, I decided I liked ketchup better. But I would definitely be willing to eat them again.

Our final stop for the day was the Royal Delft museum. This is the factory where Delftware is produced. It was a little expensive but worth it. It cost 6.50 Euros to tour. Unfortunately, the factory was closed for the day and guided tours were not available either. They did give us a nice book that explained everything and it was nice to go at our own pace. There was one man doing a painting demonstration. Every piece of Royal Delft is painted by hand. The painters paint on a product that has been fired once. The paint looks black and contains cobalt oxide. A glaze is then placed over the entire product. When the product is fired again, it changes into the well known Delft Blue. In the museum, there were many examples of products made throughout the years. It also showed the different styles of Delftware. We were also able to walk through the factory where everything, except for the painting, takes place. I would highly suggest going on a day when the factory is operating. Even though no one was there, it was still very interesting to see.

It was starting to get dark, so we decided to return to Leiden. The train from Delft to Leiden was about 20 minutes. I made fajitas for dinner. They were not nearly as good as at home, but they were not bad. We talked for awhile and played a little bit of cards. I was really tired so I went to bed while the Joel and Kyler stayed up much later.