In a hot stinky basement of a corner store in Amsterdam right now typing this...
Had a great time in Delft! We took a canal tour and learned about some Delft history, and ended up at the Delftware pottery factory. You know those blue ceramic plates your grandmother has?... usually with a windmill or boat on them? Well, those are all made at this factory. It was cool to see how each plate (and everthing else) is handpainted by some guy. I liked watching how it is all made, but I'm not too fond of the actual end product.
We headed over to Delft's Old Church and warmed up and set up for a concert. It was such a fantastic experience to sing in a church that was built in the 1200's! And the church was HUGE! The girls' voices ressonated for a good 4 seconds. Many tourists stopped and listened, and we all had a great time.
After the concert we headed out the the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Kinderdijke. This is a place in the Netherlands where a system of 19 windmills pumped water out of a low-lying area to keep it dry. This dry area, which was originally part of a river, is called a polder. It was truely amazing to see how the technology used in the 1700's is very similar to the technology still used today. Nothing much has changed except for the source of the power that drives the pumps.
Of course, that makes for one long day, so dinner and beers were in order. Beer of the day was Dommelesch, and each one drank got you a free hat. I will not tell you how many hats I got.
Today we woke up very early and got on the road to avoid the traffic. Our destination: Anne Frank's house. This is a very interesting and very heavy museum to visit. You have to deal with simultaneous feelings of horror, peace, joy, and disbelief. Anne Frank and her family were Jews who survived almost two years hiding from the Nazi's in an attic in Amsterdam. Eventually, a Dutch informant found out about their hiding spot and they were sent to Auschwitz. They all died except for Otto Frank, the father of the family, who was the one who worked so hard to try and protect them...
And now, we have a few hours of "shopping" time. This is the result of touring Europe with a bus-load of girls. Shoes, clothes, trinkets, chocolate, candy, and even booze are being bought up in large quantities while I sit here and type this. I've been mostly on my own, roaming Amsterdam and just taking it all in.
Tonight we head to Utrecht for the start of the Europa Cantat International Music Festival. 2500 singers are coming together to make music! It should be a fantastic time!
See U singing.
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