White and Blue

This morning we set out from Muideerport Station to the capital of blue and white porcelain - Delft. You know those ornaments that everyone brings home from the Netherlands, white and blue windmill, the little boy and girl kissing? Well, they are only authentic if they have come from this place. 

We arrived to a blue and white train station, I sense a theme coming along. It was a quick walk through the cross stitch   of canal and footpath. It was apparent that we had reached the town square when a giant cathedral was towering down at us on one end, and the town hall was sandwiching us in from the other. The other sides of the square were souvenir shops and places to drink beer! With a map in hand, we made our way around to the 'must see' sights. We pottered and looked around to get the feel of the place. Of course we tried all the cheeses, multiple times, from all the available cheese stores. We were told by a friendly fellow that Gouda cheese is not named after a place, like Roquefort, but is named after the making process. Any cheese that is made following the exact process, can be called Gouda cheese. 

It was time for a chocolate milk and espresso stop in a very old restaurant. So what if I chose the kids drink! We found the wonky church and had a quick peek in, the Delft Museum was far too over priced, and even though we walked back and forth through many streets and found the Vermeer Museum an hour later,  we made the decision that we need to eat dinner, rather than look at the art (travelling means budgeting people!). Although we got to see some of the art through 3D pop up glasses, nearly the same...

We had seen and experienced the cute little town and purchased our Delft Cheese Slice. Cobbled streets, very old and crooked houses, bricks in different shades of burnt orange and grey, bikes attached to any rail found, flowers blooming on every post, and cats that pop out the windows to say hello! Our last port of call was the Oostpost, the last standing town tower gate that was built in the 1200s, then added to in the 1400s.

And now is the private home to a quirky family!

Back to the blue and white station, on the 15.34 train to Amsterdam Centraal. Where we will try and find pancakes for dinner. Fingers crossed the rain stays away tomorrow!