DAY 39 – Train Rides in the Netherlands

April 27 – Windmills, Canals, Open Market, and a High Tower

Ingrid walked us to the Train Depot from her town of Zaan Daam and we began using our all-day train pass that we had purchased for $15 each. We hopped off at Leiden, which we could have stayed at all day. Leiden is located on the Old Rhine, about 20 kilometers from The Hague to its south and some 40 kilometers from Amsterdam to its north. It was a delightful town with canals, bicycles, and more bicycles

The Old Rheine in Leiden

Everyone...and I mean everyone rode bicycles everywhere.

 Leiden is also known as the place where the Pilgrims (as well as some of the first settlers of New Amsterdam) lived and operated a printing press for a time in the early 17th century before their departure to Massachusetts and New Amsterdam in the New World.  Grandma Olson used to say she was part Pennsylvania Dutch, so I wonder if my ancestors came from this part of Holland.  We'll have to do more research to learn about that.

Windmills are becoming a thing of the past

The Valk Windmill is the last surviving windmill in Leiden.  There used to be 19.  'De Valk' (The Falcon) is a tower mill, dating from 1743. It has seven floors, all of which are open to the public. It only took three months to build.  We really enjoyed the tour to the top and seeing old relics from a couple of hundred years ago.

We toured this windmill...'De Valk'

 In 1869, following numerous changes of owner during the preceding years, the mill was purchased by Pieter van Rhijn (1848-1889), descendant of a prominent family of millers in South Holland. The dwellings inside the mill were converted into one large house, the interior of which has been preserved and can still be seen today.

Original furnishings in the windmill

Very interesting decor on the walls

This was such a cute kitchen!

The Kitchen Sink

The grindstones - I think?

The stairs were pretty steep!  And there were 7 floors to climb!

 Walking around the town was the biggest highlight, however. It's amazing how the grandmothers will ride their bikes with a child or two and baskets of groceries.  I wish I would have taken more pictures of the bicycle riders - they were so fun to watch~!

 Young people go really fast while talking on their cell phones. The bikes have their own paths through the town and they have the right of way, so WATCH OUT! 

Since it was Saturday...it was Open Market Day. We had more fun watching the people! We purchased our normal cheese and bread and ate lunch in the sunshine. Holland had a particularly LONG winter, so this was one of the first days with sunshine. Rich keeps saying that he carries sunshine in his pocket from the Mediterranean wherever he goes! Everyone seems happy about that. BUT, with the cold breeze from the North Sea, it was cold. I wore my new blue coat and four layers underneath. Brrr!

Tulips are starting to come on - the whole reason why we came at this time!

Don't you love the little porcelain Dutch shoes on the ends of his braids?

Market Day in Leiden

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We went on to Delft, famous for beautiful blue and white porcelain china. We decided to come back another day as the Information Center (with the maps) was quite aways away so we jumped back on the train to Den Hague,the capital city of Holland. It boasts a population of ½ million people. I had remembered coming here as an 18 year old, (touring with the American Youth Symphony and Chorus). We had gone to a miniature replica of Holland called Madurodam. I absolutely loved it! It was 4:00 by now and getting colder and we wouldn't have been able to spend much time, so we postponed that visit.

Back onto the train to Rotterdam, the 2nd largest city in The Netherlands.  Its strategic location at the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta on the North Sea and at the heart of a massive rail, road, air and inland waterway distribution system extending throughout Europe, Rotterdam is often called the "Gateway to Europe". During WWII, the German army invaded the Netherlands on May 10, 1940.  Hitler had hoped to conquer the country in just one day, but his forces met unexpectedly fierce resistance. The Dutch army was finally forced to capitulate on May 15, 1940, following Hitler's bombing Rotterdam on May 14 and threatening to bomb other Dutch cities. The heart of Rotterdam was almost completely destroyed by the Luftwaffe; 900 civilians were killed and 80,000 made homeless.

Rotterdam after the 1940 bombing.

 It was decided not to repair or restore most of the historic buildings, so it is quite a modern-looking city.

 After getting lost a couple of times, we finally went to the Euromast, built in 1960. It is the tallest building in the Netherlands – 185 meters. We enjoyed going to the rotating tower and looking down upon the city. You could see for miles and the sun was shining so beautifully.

Such a great view from the tower

Beautiful view from the top!

It may be sunny, but it was a COLD day!

Back on the train to Zaandam, it was 10:00 at night and we had a 90 minute train ride ahead of us. When we got off, I discovered I had left my warm winter hat from NYC on the bus. Sad day! We got lost walking to our host's house. The 15 minute walk turned into a 40 minute walk.