We rode over to the Royal Delft factory in the morning and took a tour. Some of the items are still hand painted: if it has the bowl symbol, a “JT” ‘signature’, and a year code (and costs several hundred dollars) it was hand painted. Like this fish plate.
They also offer more affordable items which use a transfer/stencil process that is quicker, but all the steps are still done by hand. The black ink in the photo turns to the famous blue when the piece is fired in the kiln for the second time. The first firing hardens the clay to create the plate/pot/etc., then the secret ink is painted (or stenciled) on and the piece is fired again at a higher temperature.
We rode our bikes to the central square in Delft after the tour, and then had a rare bit of time to ourselves in the middle of the day. Julie and I visited a cheese shop and then had some tea.
Delft City Hall from the coffee shop.
We left Delft and rode through fairly urban areas to The Hague. We ate our lunch just outside the parliament building near a kipper stand. This heron wanted some herring, too.
Fountain in the parliament building courtyard.
After eating lunch, we went to the Mauritshuis Museum, which houses mostly Dutch Golden Age paintings (about 1570 - 1700). We both became fans of Jan Steen, and I was really impressed by Paulus Potter’s “The Young Bull”. It also houses a number of Rembrandt and Vermeer paintings.
The ‘feature’ Jan Steen piece.
The Hague is home to a number of international courts and organizations, and also the World Peace Palace.
The World Peace Flame burns just outside the peace palace. Created by uniting seven flames from five continents in 1999, flames lit from this one now burn in a number of locations around the world. It is nice to see some money and effort spent promoting peace instead of war.
Then we rode out of the city through a huge park, then a sort of suburb of mansions and embassies. Finally we arrived at the beach, where we took a little snack break. Breaking our apple tart tradition, we ordered frites (french fries) with Pinda Saus, which is a peanut sauce similar to satay sauce.
There was some nice riding up the coast through the dunes.
Then we headed inland to meet the barge in Leiden. Dessert on the boat that evening was a really delicious tiramisu.
After dinner we walked through Leiden and learned the location of a number of museums and a bit of local history, and we also got a glimpse into a couple of residential courtyards. When you walk the city streets in the old towns here it is all buildings with no yards – there is typically barely a stoop (sidewalk/porch). But we discovered that in some cases the buildings surround pretty and peaceful courtyard gardens for several residences. Then many of us had a drink outside a bar, returning to the boat at sunset.
