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| B&B street, Anjeliersstraat, this building as built in 1992, but in very old area, orig site was warehoue |
Brilliant idea of mine going to see the Royal Delft factory in Delft. Host Carolyn researched train schedule for me on the Monday it did entail an early start, left at 7am, 20 minutes walk to the station, 70 minutes train journey, in a south east direction,next stop after Den Haag ( the Hague). On the train I chatted with an Asian woman - 30's - whom I had asked for assistance with getting on the right train, she had lived in Netherlands for 9 years, was Malaysian & married to a Dutchman. She worked for TMobile in marketing & traveled from AMsterdam to Den Haag every day for work, made for a long day. Interesting to get her perspective on the Dutch, she saw the men as more domestic, ie will help in the house, help her with the baby (1yo) than say Asian men, who she thought were more chauvanistic. She said the Dutch liked to eat pure stodge, lots of potatoes, mashed with the other veg & meat. She loved Australia,a sister in Sydney & a brother in Melbourne. I asked if her daughter would be tri-lingual like her, she said no, her first language was English, she was bi-lingual??? She referred to Delft as a nice little city....in my innocence I pictured the town of Delft itself as cute little blue & white windmilled village, not so, quite approach quite industrial, sort of dismal, interesting when you get into the middle market bit, but still quite dank & depressing. Apparently a student town.
Anyway 20 minute walk to Delft factory, self-guided tour very good, full of history & actual demo in the factory of how the molds/casts are made, pottery is poured & the handpainting is done. Inevitable last stop the shop, was tempted by very elegant jardeniere, but felt 495 euros bit much for what is essentially a pot plant holder... yes I know, I am too sensible! Brilliant display of old Delft from the 1600's onwards which belongs to the Dutch Royal family & is kept at the factory for the enjoyment of all... or all who pass over their E8 for the tour.
Funny thing when I was rushing back from the station - had to get to back to B&B to pick up my bags & to Hotel for transfer to the riverboat - passed a rather blowsy looking blond woman who appeared to be loitering in the steps going down to the semi-basement , was thinking - how odd, when I noticed that the next entrance was glassed in & through the glass could be seen a large & varied collection of dildos....I hadn't even thought about the red light district & when I looked on the map, this street was nowhere near it, they have obviously spread out.
Made it to the hotel after mad rush dragging case over cobblestones to the Sofitel, 20 minute walk, cunningly the hotel was called the The Grand on the entrance. I had a look around the Sofitel while I waited for the bus, opulently flash (or flashly opulent) quite happy with my B&B at a quarter of the price, thanks very much.
Riverboat of the same ilk as the Sofitel in appointments, very luxurious. Cabin very nice, reasonable size - had hotel rooms smaller - compared to S's on the next level up & same size, she has a full size sliding window, though. Passengers about half & half, Aussie & Yank, range of ages. Quite an organised affair, we were requested to report at 6.30 in the lounge for briefing, which went on & on, too many instructions to remember, this is going to be a different travel experience to usual!
Started evening with champagne welcome from the Captain, Romanian, & then on to dinner, of many courses - like an Italian wedding! - portion size small, but total still added up. I will be considerably larger by end of tour, as all chefs very good, all cordon bleu quality. Better get F to bring the trailer to the airport to pick me up.
Each night the program for the next day is in the cabin with a chocolate on top.
PS, b satelite connection soooo slow , unable to add in photos, will have to add in later
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