FictionalCities :: Trip 90 - Delft

Thursday 24th Flying from Heathrow to Amsterdam at 08:20 required my alarm be set to 5.30 at the Heathrow Hilton. I met Clare, the lecturer and old friend, and Tessa the tour manger in the queue at at bag-check, and we made our way to the security queue which the indicator indicated was the busiest, but it lied. The procedure has now changed, so you no longer have to put coats, bags and (electronic!) tablets in separate trays - you just put your bag on top of your coat in one tray. But in the sideways-standing scanner my euro notes were detected. After an Americano and a (new!) Pret Cinnamon Crown our flight was delayed by fog in Amsterdam, and was fuller because of an earlier flight being cancelled due to the same fog, we left 45 minutes late From a distant coach park at Schipol our coach took us to Haarlem, firstly, visiting St. Bavo (see right), the resting place, and frequent painting place, of Saenredam, and site of the tomb of Frans Hals. Lunch in the sunshine in the square was a veggie burger with frites and (a new thing) Weiss bier with lemon. Then to the Frans Hals Museum, which has many impressive group portraits, including my fave the Regentesses of the Old Men's Almshouses - coincidentally the building that the FH museum now inhabits. The museum cafe also impressed with a fine and moist coconut macaroon. Back on the coach from Haarlem to Delft and check-in to the Hampshire Hotel Delft Centre, in time for a welcome reception, lecture by Clare - ‘An Introduction to the Golden Age of 17th Century Dutch Art’ and dinner at the hotel. The evening view from the window at the end of the corridor to my room took in the sunset behind the old church, the new church, and another church (see above). Our plastic room keycards came housed in a cardboard wallets with the wifi login password and our room number scribbled on, but also featuring a fold-out map of Delft. Nifty! Friday 25th The traditional first-morning breakfast learning process went smoothly with no disappointments. No cake, unsurprisingly, but excellent bread. Off on the coach under blue skies to The Hague, first to the Panorama Mesdag (see right), new to me, and a special spectacle. After coffee and a cinnamon swirl in the Panorama cafe, it was back on the coach, to the Mauritshuis for a comprehensive run through and a linger in front of several of my favourite pictures in the whole world (see below). A select four of us had sandwich lunches, made with interesting dark breads and unusual cheeses, in the gallery cafe. Some gallery shopping was followed by a visit to the Prince William V Gallery and some trad-hung middling art, the best of the Prince's famous collection being now in the Mauritshuis. An evening lecture from Clare, 'The Art Collections of Amsterdam’, was followed by dinner in the hotel restaurant. Tonight us two veggies had an individual quiche which seemed to have the toughest pastry ever, noting my difficulty the waiter offered me a sharper knife. It looked like filo pastry, but turned out to be packaging - a wooden hoop, which had been left on after cooking.

Saturday 26th We strolled into Delft after breakfast for a morning of churches, canals, sunshine and the Prinsenhoff Museum. The Nieuwe (see above) and Oude (see right) churches had tombs of Vermeer, Leeuwenhoek and William the Silent .The museum has the bullet holes in the wall up the stairs where the latter was shot in 1584. It also supplied good coffee and a tasty apple and nut muffin. Lunch was taken by three of us in a bagel joint in the Grote Markt Square called Bagels & Beans. Mine was an everything sourdough bagel with cream cheese with chives. And a coconut booster drink which also contained cinnamon, cardamom, turmeric, ginger and black pepper! After a supermarket trip to find interesting biscuits it was back to the hotel and off on the coach to Leiden for the afternoon. First to the Cloth Hall (Museum de Lakenhal) for its pukka paintings in the gallery downstairs, including saved altarpieces, Rembrandt related works, etc. Upstairs is more devoted to the cloth guild, with less-major art. A walk around Leiden, in weirdly warm sunshine, before returning to the coach and Delft. Our last night was a free evening, dinner-wise, so me and Clare and Tessa found 't Walletje. I had the Veggie Delight, which involved a mess of tasty lentils, roasted vegetables and chick pea and broccoli croquets. Afters was a cooked pear with cinnamon ice cream and pecan nuts. Sunday 27th Checking out was followed by a short coach ride into Amsterdam and the Rijksmuseum. Through the Dutch galleries first to follow up on the week's deep appreciation of Rembrandt, Hals, still lifes and Vermeer. After a brief coffee break in Rijks, the gallery eatery involving a slice of apple and cinnamon cake, we went downstairs for a palate-cleaning survey of the the earlier Italian works by the likes of Fra Angelico and Crivelli. A group of five of us took lunch back in Rijks. I had a superior baguette with Dutch cheese and some vibrant-yellowy mustardy stuff, which tasted just like piccalilli. After a short shop the coach took us to the Rembrandt House Museum. Buying this plush double-fronted house stretched his credit to the limit and he ended up being evicted, but not before he'd lived there for 20 years. A newish modern building houses the side galleries, shop, lift, etc. But not an exhibition of etchings, the gallery for which was undergoing refreshment, dammit. Our final visit of the tour was to Our Lady in the Attic (see right), a Catholic church in a canal-side house, built in 1663 when open catholic worship was frowned upon, but OK if you did it behind closed doors. Then it was back to the coach, to Schiphol, not the smallest or easiest-to-navigate airport in the world. We were back in London by 8.00.