Life: Idiotropic

Holland is not a country, rather, it is a region of The Netherlands. Just as we would have North and South Dakota. The Netherlands has North and South Holland and while the whole of the country is absolutely beautiful, the Hollands are the areas where Dutch storybooks come from. Here is where you'll find old windmills in abundance littered around the canal ribboned fields of overly fat cows ready for their daily milking, rounds of cheese bigger then the tires on your car, swans everywhere, and tulips in bright bands of color adorning the fields along the coast. This is where you'll find Amsterdam, The Hague, a plethora of museums housing the well-known Dutch masters' works, houseboats lining the wider canals, and more bicycles than there are people to ride them.


Keukenhof done, we stopped on our way home today to spend a few hours in Delft. I love the roof lines in Holland. The whimsical stair stepped rooftops and slight tilt of the old buildings all stuck together. I still enjoy walking through the old towns and enjoy the history there, but I am also beginning to see the commonalities almost too much. Against all attempts to view this place where I live with all the wonder and excitement that I had when I first arrived, there are things that are starting to get, in spite of their interest and beauty, (dare I say it) - ordinary. Ouch. Sorry Delft. It is beautiful. The old Rathaus is beautiful and especially so today with not one, but two weddings in it while we were there. Any building is made instantly more beautiful if a bride is standing in front of it. And the Niewe Kerk (New Church) was impressive with it's massive tower dwarfing to doll house proportions all the tiny little buildings lining the market square. Of course, there were beautiful old buildings from the 1300's and earlier, lovely canals with nesting birds and little balls of downy fluff floating after their mommies in the still water, beautiful shop full of all the pretties that a tourist could want (at prices that a prince could barely afford), and sidewalk cafes with food to tempt you.

We stopped at one nice cafe for lunch and sat out under a big tree near the canal and a main pedestrian area where we could people watch. Arianna was disappointed that we didn't get the fish for her that she'd wanted at the old fish market nearby, but she's my only fish-eating child, so she had to go without. The lunch was good and the location was perfect. From there we took a long walk and got ice cream before heading home. It gave me a chance to look into some more shops where I found dreamy Delft pottery that I couldn't justify with lottery winnings and beautiful Italian pewter priced double what I paid for it in Italy.

The Royal Delft pottery is beautiful - there's no denying that. There is a long tradition of it there that they are and should be proud of. The pieces are hand painted which, I know from experience, takes time. It is; however, still pottery - fired clay with glaze. The materials themselves are not expensive. And while the workmanship counts for something, I can't justify paying $$$ (a small tulip vase that I liked was 140Euro) - the big ones went for hundreds on up... and I saw pieces for thousands. But, I love the traditional tulip vase shape with different places for each bloom. It is a traditional piece that, if I were to buy something, I would love to have. So, I'll look for a mold and see if I can make one. The painting itself isn't complicated. It's the shape that is special.

All in all, a very nice day spent relaxing in the sun that was a surprise gift after a rainy forecast and strolling slowly through the old streets pretending that there was not any sort of work ever required of us again. And, we did leave with souvenirs. I found a very nice cooking shop that sold beautiful things, so I got a couple pasta cutters and a few other odds and ends. Fun stuff.

The day was topped off with a whopping 60 Euro ticket for who knows what. There were absolutely no signs anywhere that indicated that we couldn't park there. There were parking spots and we fit into ours quite well. Others both Dutch and tourist were parked there. Very strange. And very expensive. An unplanned souvenir I could've gone without.