Some krokets in Delft then onto the Binnenhof in Den Haag

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On the November 3, I took dad to the Van Gogh museum, in Amsterdam. November 4, we made a visit to Delft and Den Haag.
Delft is famous for the Delftware, you know that blue and white porcelain. Its the pottery that was duplicated from Chinese porcelain from 17th century artisans.

Anyways can you believe Delft was founded in 1100? That's like 700 years before Australia was founded by white settlers. It was rich from weaving trade in the 13th and 14th centuries, but was overtaken as a main port by Rotterdam in the 15th century after a canal was dug to the Maas river.

Anyway I made dad come and visit a Delft factory, Aardewerkatelier de Candelaer, where they were unfortunately in their lunch break so we couldn't see any work in action other than painting.

After this we had a delicious lunch. I ordered a very typical dutch dish - someone told me the most typical dutch dish (he was also dutch) - Kroket. Its like old meat rolled up and fried. Mmm tasty. And dad had some delicious steak. We had lunch in the old town, just near the town hall with its unusual 13th century construction.

Then after this lunch we decided to visit the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church). It houses the crypt of the Dutch royal family and the mausoleum of Willem the silent. There was also some detailed history about the house of Orange in the church. Dad really enjoyed the organs here while I did my history buff thing. Then we went to the Oude Kerk.

Oude Kerk (Old church). Its a former convent where Willem the Silent was assassinated in 1584 and has some history about the 80 year war with Spain. Dad also liked the organs here.

After Delft it was getting close to 4pm and I said to dad lets try and squeeze in Den Haag as it wasn't too far from where we were. Even though we didn't get too see too much Den Haag was nice as we got to walk around the old town and see the Binnenhof (Inner Court( which is surrounded by parliamentary buildings that have been the heart of Dutch politics (although Dutch parliament meet at a more modern building on the south side). The central court used to be used for executions. I wanted to go to Mauritshuis but it was closing in half an hour by the time we got there. We sat and talked for a while looking at the fountain.

Oh and for the photos of Den Haag have a look here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/dkruchkoff/DenHaag20081104?authkey=vJG_ZxlFe80&feat=directlink

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Photos

Inside the Niuew Kerk
Some stain glass windowage

Another church - I think
But what I really liked was that blue heart thing

A man content with his herring
what more could you want in life

Comments

[Jozé Youngs]

krokets
The best krokets are found in the southern part of Holland.Not biased or anything!We make a version here in Canada that is okay, looking for a good recipe from Limburg.