Athens to Amsterdam 10/1-7/2023 Episode 7 – Haarlem and Amsterdam Fri-Sat, 10/6-7

When we arrived in Haarlem around 9:00 a.m. on Friday, we had about a ten minute walk to the Ten Boom Museum. It was still pretty early so most shops and cafes had not yet opened, but people were beginning to be out on their bikes and other wheeled vehicles (besides car. I’ve mentioned before about all of the bicycles in the Netherlands – somewhere over 23 million. Amsterdam is said to have four times as many bikes as cars with an average of two per household. Over 80% of the people have bikes and 60% use them every day. Haarlem is no exception, with traffic signals specific to bikes.

We walked through the old town of Haarlem, founded in the 9th century with many existing buildings having been built in the 1200-1600’s.

After our visit to the Ten Boom Museum, we walked to the Grote Markt – the central square, and to the Grote Kerk (church) or St. Bavokerk that sits nearby.

St. Bavo, as it is called, is a Reformed Protestant Church that was founded in 1245 as a Catholic Church. I won’t walk through the history, but will just mention the Christian Mueller organ inside that is 90 feet tall with 5068 pipes. 1n 1766, Mozart played the organ when he was ten years old. Handel also played the Organ.

We walked from St. Bavo’s down small streets, just enjoying the fall weather and the intimate feel of the town. Eventually, we found ourselves through the mystery of Google maps, at the Chocolaterie Pierre, a chocolate shop and Cafe. Amazing, delicious, beautiful chocolates that I so wished I could bring home for samples for all of you. But alas…so we did our best to sample for you. I know, we are thoughtful that way. Wait! Speaking of Pierre chocolate!! Ahhhh, I had one more piece left. No need to let it get old. Ummm, delicious!!

Eventually we started back for the train station, stopped at a cafe for lunch, walked over the canals – without falling in, and boarded our train back to Amsterdam. It was a wonderful day.

Saturday morning we packed our bags, left them at the front desk, and took a canal cruise in Amsterdam. I think I already wrote this somewhere, but the pull over 15,000 bikes out of the canals every year – not so many cars since they began placing rails.

Houseboats come at a premium as the city is not permitting additionalboats in the canals. The modest green one sold a couple of years ago for 350,000 Euros.

Taxes used to be charged along the canal by the width of the house, resulting in narrow – and very narrow but deep homes.

We returned to the hotel for our bags, took a cab to the port, and boarded our ship for our return to the U.S. You won’t hear from us for several days, but I’ll likely have one more post before we close this adventure.

Thanks again for your prayers, your care, and for rambling along. May God bless you with His Presence and peace in knowledge of Him.