Delft

I  just assumed intercity trains would be old and junky but we had a very nice train for the 1 hour trip to Delft. The landscape is pretty and you can see a lot of the cities it passes through--the Hague,  Haarlem, Leiden.

Delft is a charming town, kind of a miniature Amsterdam, with the same variety of old buildings.  We walked about 5 minutes from the beautiful new train station and found a canal boat ready to depart.  Boat rides are a great way to see a city and get an understanding of what's where even though you don't really need it in a city as small as Delft. The boat was slow, had too many jumping kids on it, and the captain who I'm guessing is not a real,  certified one, spoke loudly in Dutch but softly in English. Still, the trip was pleasant enough. We saw what part of town Vermeer painted in his famous picture and learned that the place doesn't look like the painting and really never did. He painted one house from another part of the canal and put it prominently in the painting. We also learned Vermeer was friends with Anton van Leeuwenhoek who also lived in Delft.

Another day, another canal

The town doesn't have as many bikes or people as Amsterdam so we felt less likely to be killed there. It's getting tiresome having to be so alert, looking for bikes, trams, etc.. I caught myself looking both ways when we were walking in the New Church.

Delft has a fair-sized square with restaurants serving outside. Close to the square are the two main attractions,  the Old Church and the New Church. The old church is a Gothic Protestant church that was built and expanded between 1256 and 1350. It has a leaning tower that is being renovated so it can't be seen. The bell inside weighs 9 tons.

The New Church

The New Church was built in the 1300s also with a higher tower than the Old Church, and the 2nd highest tower in the Netherlands. If you buy a ticket, you can climb to the top, about 376 steps, but we couldn't afford it. The main attraction of this church is that William of Orange and lots of others from the Orange family are buried there. There is a huge memorial to William. A sign close to the monument says you should take a selfie with it. I think they're trying to promote tourism because it says visitors have come to see the monument since it was built in the late 1500s.

Part of the Monument to Wiliiam of Orange. It is unclear why she has a cowboy hat

We had lunch on the square. Lola has been wondering what the savory pancake dishes are so she ordered one with tomatoes, bacon and mushrooms.  Delicious pizza alternative.

Pancake trying to be a pizza

We had a nice enough train on the way back except it didn't have a/c because probably none of their trains do. It was sweltering.

We've been meaning to get to the hidden church, known as Our dear Lord in the attic,  in the Red Light District so we went to that when we got back to the city. The 17th century canal house with the Catholic church in the attic was built after the Protestants outlawed other religions, but the hidden churches were tolerated because William of Orange gave everyone the right to practice their own religion as long as they didn't do it publicly. The hidden churches were Catholic and Baptist and there were also hidden synagogues.

Some of the house has been renovated but most of it, including the church, is original. There are many steep stairs to get to the church but you tour the rooms on each floor which makes it a little easier. It's impressive.

Altar in hidden church

For dinner we walked to the Foodhallen which is a food court of supposedly excellent restaurants. It gets mostly good reviews. It's huge and crowded but the Japanese place was great. Good sushi and poke bowls. It's part of a renovated warehouse district called De Hallen.

Foodhallen