Thursday February 10 - A Day in Delft

With our work days over, we began to tour Holland outside of the Hague.  Today's trip was to Delft, a city famous for its blue and white china, and for its connection with the royal family of the Netherlands, especially William of Orange, the founder of the nation and the dynasty.  In the photo above, students listen to buddies Sietse and Egmelis describe the history of the Oostpoort (East Gate) of the old city, where pieces of the murderer of William of Orange were displayed after he was dismembered and executed.  (Both the Mondriaan and EBT students have a healthy adolescent interest in dismemberment, as well as a scholarly interest in law and legal precedent.)

Today's blog will be brief and updated early, not because less than usual has happened but because more has.  We broke our unparalleled streak of punctuality this morning, after a mass oversleeping meant that we took the 9:45 train to Delft instead of the 9:21.  While we had a very smooth journey to this "most Dutch" of cities in spite of our lateness, on the way home we ended up waiting for nearly an hour due to trains that were canceled or delayed because of track problems.  ("It's just like America," Alicia commented.)  We arrived back at the hostel just at 6:00, just in time for dinner.  Journals were therefore hurried affairs, although everyone agreed that they had much to write about, since the tireless buddies were expected to pick us up at 7:30 for an evening of bowling at Scheveningen.  (The kids spent the brief train ride to Delft practicing how to say "Scheveningen" while the buddies laughed at them.)

Thus we barely had time to write before heading once more out into a cold rainy evening, determined to wring more enjoyment from the day.  I am staying behind to update the blog, with Alison, Navin, and Angelo, who elected to get some rest instead of going bowling.  I imagine that I will hear bowling adventures tomorrow, and will add them to the blog as soon as possible.

In the meantime, here is John Nieto's account of the day in Delft, city of blue and white china, and William of Nassau (whose life and death featured prominently in our tours):

Outside the Oude Kerk

In the pews of the Oude Kerk

We went to the "Oude Kerk" - old church.  I saw the tombs of a lot of important people.  [Editor's Note: The kids were rather freaked out by the idea of walking over graves, feeling that it was disrespectful.  They were relieved to learn that while the stones remain in the church, the actual remains in the Oude Kerk have been interred elsewhere in the intervening centuries.]  A lot of the stained glasses have a history behind it.
In the "Nieuwe Kerk" - new church - where Prince William of Orange is buried, we saw his tomb.  In that church Queen Wilhelmina, Juliana and the other deceased members of the royal family are buried.  We also saw where Prince William was shot and saw the actual bullet holes that are still in the wall (in the Prinsenhof museum).

[Editor's Note: While the site of William's actual assassination was interesting, and somewhat eerie, the personal highlight of the museum for me was Hendrik de Meijer's painting "Exodus of the Spanish Occupation of Breda" showing a ragtag bunch of troops straggling away from the city, dwarfed by a gray landscape and a cloudy sky.  It's a pretty landscape painting (the clouds suggest a precursor of Turner) but the people are almost insignificant.  In terms of sheer drama it has nothing on Velazquez' famous "Surrender of Breda" (to the Spanish) painted just three years earlier.  It's a wonderful example of how even very dramatic events in real life do not necessarily translate into great art, and of the dangers of propaganda.  Especially in the twilight years of a great empire.]

John continues:

Cheese purchases in the market in Delft

Then we went to the market with our buddies.  Raymito then brought me cupcakes which tasted so good and hopefully Friday will be the best day of the trip.  Other than that, everything is going well.

[Editor's note: Stephanie Hernandez has requested that I add the single word CHOCOLATE!!! as her journal entry for the day.  Stephy and I found a candy stall in the market, and under my guidance she bought an assortment of caramels, and 100 g worth of "koffie staafjes" little bars of coffie flavored milk and dark chocolate.  We were going to share them.  After sampling one of the koffie staafjes Stephanie made her journal entry verbally, and then decided on buying 200 grams more to take home to the states.  (I wish I could say she is planning this as a gift, but I'm not sure.)  I ended up handing the bags we had purchased together to Stephy after sampling one coffee bar and one caramel, which were both excellent, but made my teeth hurt.  I suspect that none of them were left by the end of the day, although I haven't asked.)  Stephanie may have discovered coffee this trip, but chocolate is her true love.]

John's cheerful "everything is going well" is a tribute to the kids' good humor in the face of rain (although really one half of a rainy day out of six is nothing short of miraculous in Holland), and train delays and crowded trains ("We're from New York, we got this," commented one kid as we prepared to fight our way onto the packed double decker train that finally arrived heading for Den Haag, and negotiated a way up the stairs to the upper compartment.  The chaperones worried that we might not all fit on the train, but the kids were blithely confident, and managed to squeeze on without even unduly using their elbows.)

I sincerely hope that bowling this evening provides a lovely close to a long and stimulating day of touring, and that the kids get home in time to get some sleep for Amsterdam, the crown jewel in our trip, and our last full day in the Netherlands.  ("Wait, is today Thursday already?" asked John Heegle, in connection with a casual reference to our impending work schedule next week.  "How did that happen?")  Our time continues to fly by.

Given our schedule tomorrow, and the farewell dinner party that the Mondriaan students are giving us in the evening, I suspect this blog may not be updated until Saturday (with some of the work done on the airplane).  If that is the case, I will take the opportunity now to do my last (or second to last) sign-off at the StayOkay Hostel with a bow.

-Rebecca Pawel