Last week we finally made it to Delft to visit a friend of mine. She’s been living there for 2 and a half years already and is planning on moving back to America (where she’s from) in the summer, so this really was our last possible chance! It was lovely to see her again, and I thoroughly enjoyed our few days there. Delft is a gorgeous town. I do like the Dutch style buildings, and of course there were canals everywhere. All this water brought with it a tonne of wildlife. Ducks, of course, but also coots, swans and even a heron that likes to hang around outside a house down my friend’s street waiting to be fed bits of fish and things. How cool is that? Other people have stray cats popping along to be fed, this house got a heron!
We also went to the Hague – had to be done seeing as it’s so close to Delft. The Escher museum there is fantastic and worth every single cent of the 7 Euro entry fee. For those who don’t know, Escher was a dutch graphic artist who did strange but interesting drawings, using strange perspectives and tesselation, among other things. A famous one is Air and Water, in which fish turn into birds. Fascinating stuff!
Our final trip of the visit was to Leiden, where we ate the most amazing pancakes! Huuuge things they were, with an interesting range of toppings. Jan and I had one with bacon and ginger and one with bacon, cheese and apple, which we ate half of each before swapping. Delicious! Having stuffed ourselves with pancakes, we went to work off all the calories at the windmill museum “De Valk”, meaning The Falcon. The windmill was actually working on the day we went, which my friend said she had never seen before, so that was something new for all of us (she has been in the museum several times – she used to live in Leiden – but in 2 years had never seen the blades actually turning).
We ended our visit on Friday evening by making sushi with our hosts, which Jan and I had never done before. It came out pretty well and tasted absolutely delicious! A great end to a lovely few days away.
I like Delft very much too – it’s like a mini-Amsterdam, but without the hoards of people! Did you tour the porcelain factory? That was a big highlight for me – not that I could afford any of the handpainted pieces, though! (Besides, I would have worried tremendously about getting something so beautiful and breakable safely home to Canada!)
You’re right, it is like Amsterdam (we were there for a weekend about 8 years ago), but smaller and with less tourists. I think I actually like Delft better than Amsterdam.
one day i will get to see this part of the world……
Yes, definitely do it! It’s well worth it 🙂
Delft sounds lovely! I have been all over the Netherlands, but I haven’t made it to Delft yet. I think that will be next on my list!
I really liked it. It’s so cute and not too touristy 🙂
I lived in Amsterdam and Haarlem…. but never quite made it to Delft! 😮 I can highly recommend Haarlem though. The old market square is spectacular, and there are lots of quaint narrow streets too.
Sounds good. If I’m ever in the Netherlands again I’ll keep it in mind 🙂 My friend who lived in Delft has moved back to the US now though.