Today, after a TERRIBLE sleep (the party ended long after midnight), we headed out to walk around Delft, to find breakfast. It was a rainy day and I was grumpy... the concert last night and the setting up for the music festival this morning, ruined my mood and my experience of Delft. I wasn't even interested to check out the touristy shops, where they sell the famous delft-blue pottery. We just wandered to the bakery around the corner from the hostel, bought some yummy cinnamon buns and headed back to the communal dining area to eat. Then we packed up and walked to the car, which was parked several blocks away. They don't allow parking in the main town area so we had to park on the outskirts.
From there we headed to the Delft museum, to see where the the famous Delft pottery is still being handpainted today. We were given a short tour of the factory and he explained how they make their pottery, and then we got to see two women handpainting their pieces. One woman we chatted with has been painting pottery for over 35 years! It was a very interesting tour. I didn't end up buying any pottery because it was very expensive. I know I will regret that decision! Such beautiful artwork. One day I will have to return, and then I will buy something, regardless of the cost. :-)
Time to head to Friesland! Driving on the historical Afsluitdijk, the famous 32 kilometre dike that was constructed in the early 1930's, was pretty cool! The weather was terrible... pouring, windy, COLD! But we got out of the car and checked it out. We walked on the overpass to the other side, and the North Sea water level was clearly higher than the IJsselmeer lake side. Pretty amazing!
We made it to our accommodations in IJlst in early afternoon and were super happy with it. There isn't much in the town but it is charming and we are right on the canal. We are above one of the only restaurants in town, and across the street from the small tourist information office. There was a snack bar next door where we ate croquettes on buns, and I had a frikendel. I've never had it before but I was told to try it... it was good but I'm not entirely sure what it was... sort of like a sausage, or a hot dog? Anyway, check that off my list of things to do while in Holland! :-) It was awesome to just sit and watch the boats going by in the canals, with the bridges being constantly raised and lowered. We found it so facinating and I could watch the "traffic" forever.
The city of Sneek was only about 4 kms away so we headed there to check it out. By this time the rain had stopped so once we parked the car we wandered for quite awhile. Our first mission was to find a travel bag, to bring our extra stuff home that we've been accumulating through our travels. We were bursting at the seams. We found what we were looking for (happy!) so our next mission was to find the Dropwinkeltje... our trip to mecca!! Our faces say it all....
I think the guy in the store thought we were crazy, as we almost squealed in delight upon entering the store. So excited to be there.... we spent alot of time and money in the store, buying pounds of droppies. (Rodger and I were there in 1998 and it's totally not the same as I remembered... strange. I thought it was bigger... or maybe I made it bigger in my mind over the years?? :-) )
From there we did some shopping, where we bought a bunch of tea towels
and assorted other things (some soccer things too), and then checked out
the famous Waterpoort, which was built in 1613. Apparently my mom used
to dangle her feet in this very spot as a young girl! Super awesome to
think about that!
And then we got lost getting back to the car. We circled around and around, until we finally found it. It was okay though, Sneek is beautiful and wandering along the canals was nice. If only we didn't have 50 pounds of droppies to lug around with us the whole time... haha.
I am so in love with this Country. Seriously.
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