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Published: April 15th 2006
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Even though we had had a nap the previous afternoon, we somehow managed to sleep until 11. We awoke to an empty house, as Lenny, Joyce and Misha had gone down to the shops. Soon they were back, and Beck made everyone sandwiches for lunch (breakfast for us!).
After lunch Lenny took us to the town of Delft, which Beck had been to when she was younger, and she remembered it as a pretty town with a church in the middle. Lenny drove us past hot-houses to show us the local industry, and they all had schlotes (spelling?) around them, which is like water in a ditch surrounding the land, but they aren't as big as canals.
All of the cars we have seen are tiny compared to America and Canada, and lots of people get around on their bikes. Just like what the Dutch are known for.
In the centre of Delft they have lots of Old World houses, a huge town hall, and an even bigger church. Unfortunately tours of the church had just closed. The Dutch Royal family is buried under this church, and it obviously has a lot of history attached to it.
In the town square
there was a market with people selling their wares. There are stalls that sell raw fish to eat, but I'm not sure if at the same time it is roe fish, because of the accent. We went into a shop that sold Delft blue, which is a style of ceramic that Delft is famous for. We kept on walking around the shops just having a look before we went into a cafe to grab a drink. I only had a soft drink, because I was going for a run, but Beck had a beer. The cafe was very smoky, and was full of young people who looked like students. It started to snow lightly outside which made for a nice setting.
After our drinks we headed back to the car through the market, and Beck was going to get some hot chips with mayonnaise (real Dutch), but they were closing up much to her disappointment. Obviously because it has been snowing it is still cold, but nothing like New York. I'm slowly learning a bit of Dutch, and in many cases the spelling is very similar to English, but the pronunciation is a bit different.
Lenny has organised for me
to go for a run with one of her friends, and a couple of his mates, so when we got home I had a snack so my energy levels were ok. I'm really looking forward to it.
Lenny walked me around to her friend's place (John & Ada), and then I jumped in the car with John and his friend John, and we were off. In the car I found I was actually joining a running club of about 25 for the night. Many of the runners had completed several marathons and/or half marathons.
Taller John lent me an extra running top because he didn't think I'd be warm enough, and then we headed off. We started off at a leisurely pace in light snow which was a bit bizarre. After a bit of a warm up we split into two groups. The group that I was in ran down to the beach and did 3 laps of a circuit on the beach. It was completely strange to be running in a foreign country on the beach while it was snowing, but it got even better. On the last lap there was thunder and lightning, which I couldn't believe as
it was below zero. Due to the weather we headed away from the beach, and we didn't run as far as we originally planned. It was still a really good workout though, and I think the group respected me that I could keep up. A few of the younger guys spoke to me at length, with one in particular talking to me about his time in Australia. He recalled fondly of being in Sydney on holiday, and going on a tour of the city. Part way through, the guide proudly pointed out a jail and boasted that it was two hundred years old. My running companion thought this was hilarious considering his next door neighbour's house is older than that.
At the completion of the running there was fruit which John had brought, which my system really appreciated along with the workout. The guys drove me back to Lenny's where I got to meet Ada who is lovely.
Beck heated up my dinner, and then it was time for bed as it was quite late, and we had an early start in the morning.
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