#Staarmaan

The Wedding!  It was finally here after almost a year of anticipation.  The girls were all dressed to the nines (and that includes the big and the little) and the men looked very dapper in their suits (again, both big and little).  As we were part of the wedding party, we needed to be ready just a bit earlier than the other guests as we had pictures to take with the bride beforehand.  Off to the Waldorf for some champagne, private time with the bride and getting our own quick family snapshots.

 B and his brother and our families.  We haven't seen each other in 6 years so we made the most of it.

That train though!  We had to wait for the rain to pass outside so the bride set up inside for some photos.

The rain let up!

We dodged the raindrops to get into the church where I ran into the groom!

We lined these guys up and sent them down the aisle...

And this is the only photo I have of them coming down the aisle as I was rushing to my seat...

We had great seats as we could see the bride and groom from the front.

First Kiss!  And then we were ready to party!

Windmills and Cheese Wheels

Thursday morning, we were up bright and early as we had important touring to do.  The groom's father (B's uncle) had planned a full-day excursion for our side of the family and friends to see some iconic sites just outside of Amsterdam.  With a deadline of being back in the city and ready for a cocktail party thrown by the bride's side of the family at 7 pm, we needed to get an early start.  And getting 80+ people to meet up before 8 am, in a foreign city where no one knows the directions, can be a bit of a chore.  But we managed, and our bus was on the road just a few minutes late.

Our first stop - the UNESCO protected village of Kinderdijk. 

With over 40% of all land in the Netherlands below sea level, the Dutch have become experts at battling the encroaching sea that keeps trying to put them under.  Over the millennia, they have devised environmentally friendly dikes, windmills, and sluices to keep water at bay and their feet dry.  And their expertise is never more apparent than at the Kinderdijk, and you won't find anything like it anywhere else in the world (literally).

Construction in the area began in the Middle ages, and by 1740 all 19 of the present windmills were completed.  But that doesn't mean the work was done; not by a long shot.  Construction continues to this day, as it has uninterruptedly since the very first day.  Today, the site allows visitors to experience all of the features of technology the Dutch have perfected over thousands of years and includes reservoirs, pumping stations, administrative buildings and, of course, the windmills. 

As Dutch as Dutch can get.

We were a reasonably large group!

 We all stopped for a dutch treat - Poffertjes are like a fluffy pancake served sprinkled with powdered sugar.  And Beto, as always, had ice cream.

Photo ops with the cousins, the bride and groom and we stopped to learn a few things along the way before we got to climb to the top of one of the windmills.

We piled back into the bus and headed off to our second destination - the city of Gouda.  Yep, just like the cheese.  Nope, not pronounced like that though (I am assuming you are not Dutch - if you are, you probably got it right).  Turns out I (and probably you) have been pronouncing it wrong all of these years.  It is in fact pronounced gHOW-duh (click here for a sampling of how to do it right).  Now that we all know how to pronounce it, we might still want to go back to saying goo-da, so people will understand what we are talking about.

We didn't have much time to explore the city since we had lunch reservations and then had to hightail it back to Amsterdam since we still had that cocktail party to get ready for.  But I did get to snap some pictures and learn a bit of history as we walked to lunch.

Cheese wheel decorations!

The old City Hall.  Back in the day, cities could be granted the rights to weighing and selling a type of cheese.  Gouda was one of them.  You can still bring your giant wheels of Gouda to the town square on Thursday afternoon for weighing and then try to sell it to the passersby.  We just missed them as they were packing up as we came by.

The older cousins.

After a fabulous lunch, which of course included lots of Gouda, we all napped on the bus ride back to town.  All of that fresh air and cultural learning can really wear you out.  Which was just fine with all of us because we had another round ahead of us in just over an hour.

The original Haarlem

About a 15-minute train ride outside of the city of Amsterdam, Haarlem is the center of tulip bulb growing for all of Holland (and may be the largest producer in the world but I could not find definitive proof, just hearsay).  We were not there to see the Tulips, as it is out of season anyway, but rather to see the sites.

Haarlem has a long and storied history, which I will not bore you with here, but I can give you the highlights.  Founded in 1245, burned to the ground in 1328, rebuilt,  burned in 1347 and again in 1351.  Then black death killed over half of the citizens in 1381.  It recovered and by the mid-1400s had a thriving textile and beer trade.  In 1572 the Spanish seized the city, and despite holding them off for 7 months, Haarlem fell.  Another great fire in 1576 (you would think they would have learned to use something other than wood to build) left a large portion of the city in ruins.  1577 marks the start of Haarlems Golden Age which lasted until the mid-1800s when things shifted towards Amsterdam, and the town became more of a bedroom community.  Today, the city is mostly families that commute to Amsterdam for work but enjoy the quiet life outside of the big city.

Fun fact:  Harlem, NY was originally a Dutch settlement founded in 1658 and originally spelled Haarlem.

Fun fact 2:  The story of the boy who saved the city by sticking his finger in the dyke is originally known as "The Hero of Haarlem."

We spent the day leisurely.  Wandering the streets and entering places we felt like seeing.  The weather turned on us, and we had to dodge a lot of raindrops in the afternoon, but we didn't mind as it gave us an excuse to sit down and drink some beer and do some window shopping.

The front of the Grote Markt (The Large Market)

Sint Bavokerk the central Roman Catholic Church in Haarlem.

This organ was played by Mozart himself.

The choir room which was built in 1370.

Where they used to put dogs that misbehaved in church.  We put Stinkerbell there when she was running around.

The Ten Boom Museum.  Similar to the Anne Frank house in that it is where a Christian Family hid a Jewish family during the war, we did not tour but have heard it is incredible.  Just make sure to get there early for the tour (about an hour ahead) as they only take 20 people each time and you can't reserve ahead.

Lunch was in a church converted to a brewery.  So many beers to choose from!

But of course, you can find Dog Beer in a beer town!  We thought of getting some for Dulce but didn't think it would make it home.

Haarlem was undoubtedly fun and new, but the rain finally chased us back to Amsterdam where we met up with family that was arriving into town for the wedding.  The festivities all started in the morning after all...