Leaving Delft

So this was our last day in Delft - home of the famous pottery and the painter Vermeer (Girl with a pearl in her ear) master of light. This was taken in old Delft and highlights just how much water is everywhere, canals large and small, inland lakes and waterways everywhere. The other significant difference from anywhere else I’ve been are the thousands of bicycles - it really is too difficult to communicate just how many are being ridden all over and then the thousands just parked - it also means there are so fewer cars on the roads outside the motorways. Just to give an idea of the enormity of this Dutch pastime - we are headed to Amsterdam today and just arrived this afternoon where there are an estimated 1 million bikes. Apparently 25,000 of them are fished out of the canals every year so I’m not sure whether this is vandalism or too many Heinekens before riding. On the way to Amsterdam we popped in to Wassenaar - the town I lived in for the last 2 years I was here and got to gaze at the old house - it seemed unchanged despite over 40 years having passed. Also had another Dutch frites with pindasaus and a Frikandel.

Anyway, the Gaasper Camping site is yet again good quality with excellent facilities though pretty crowded. Dinner was home made Cauliflower and Leek in a cheese sauce with fresh baguette and a lovely Portuguese wine from Douro. Now relaxing for the rest of the evening before public transport trip into Amsterdam for the day tomorrow - can’t make up our minds whether to take the tour with a sex worker, coffee shop tour (probably involving other legal substances) or a canal boat tour. Then there is the Van Gogh museum - my favorite artist. Mmmm. I expect you’ll find out tomorrow.