Delft, Netherlands
It’s late November in the Netherlands. You’re never far from the ocean here and it’s no surprise the weather changes frequently. Sunday morning featured light rain and even some sleet but the clouds quickly moved on.
The big news in Oudewater? The arrival of Sinterklaas. The Dutch have unique traditions surrounding Saint Nicholas Day. He arrives in each town in the Netherlands by boat (remember, there are canals everywhere).
Amazingly, his boat cruised right along the canal next to our row house. We waved along with everyone else.
After that excitement, we worked out how to stream CBS live online from the States on my laptop. Of course I had to watch Auburn beat Alabama in the Iron Bowl (War Eagle). With the seven hour time difference, I was yelling into a pillow after midnight here trying not to scare our Dutch neighbors.
On Monday morning, we decided to drive west about 30 minutes to the university town of Delft.
After locating a convenient car park, we walked into the historic center of town. Delft is criss-crossed by small canals and bridges.
The Markt in the middle of Delft is flanked by the towering Nieuwe Kerk (new church) and city hall. The famous blue pottery, Delftware, is created here and we saw several motifs painted in the blue Delft pattern on walls.
We appreciated the town’s compact layout. Even though it was Sunday afternoon, most of the shops were open and we wandered along looking in windows.
After all the hiking, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the warm and relaxed Cafe Belvedere on the Beestenmarkt. No one seemed to be in a hurry. I may have found another new favorite Belgian beer (St. Bernardus Abt 12).
It was a relaxing weekend and we enjoyed a little taste of home watching the football game. We’ve booked tickets to see the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam on Tuesday and we’re researching several more towns around us now. We may head east to Utrecht in the morning.
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