Holland Part 1

Alright I'm sorry I've taken so long to update with photos and such from Holland. The only excuse I can give is that I was lazy, but also that I had many more photos than I remember taking to sort through in order to share them with you. So without any more delays let me show you what I got to explore while visiting Gloria in The Netherlands. The first two photos are of Gloria's dorm room at Leiden University where she is spending her fall semester. I was lucky that someone had an extra mattress in their room so I didn't have to sleep on the floor! Isn't her room big?

(Warning:This is very photo heavy, so I'm putting it behind this link. Just click and enjoy!)

 This is the canal where Gloria's dorm is situated. Most dutch towns look exactly the same (well, ok maybe that's just me, but come on) because they all revolve around the canals. There are also so cute boat houses in the photos. Pretty interesting that people live there, right?

 This is the fun shopping area near the university, tons of cute shops and and fun stuff. 

Gloria's dorm room looks out onto the bike rack for the building, so it is premo for people watching. When the weather was nice we would open the window and Gloria would make us a snack of chocolate "yogurt" (come on, it's pudding! But if it makes you feel better about eating it than fine it's yogurt) and granola. Best snack ever! So this is me, lounging and watching people cram their bikes onto the rack. 

 Gloria noms on some yogurt and granola! 

On my last day, Gloria and I took a 15 minute train ride to Delft! Yes the birthplace of delft china! It was so windy we thought we were going to blow away! No but seriously, it was super windy. 

We decided to take the walking tour on our own! We started at the tourism building and it lead us around the town (in many circles, I think they need to revise it) and too all the important sites.  

Where's Waldo? This is in city center, just outside of the traditional fish market and the old meat market of Delft.  

City Center! 

This is the Vermeer museum! It stands on the same place where the guild that Vermeer and his father served on while living in Delft, mostly for artists and such. Oh, forgot to say that Johannes Vermeer was born and lived his life here in Delft. He is famous for many paintings, but nothing quiet like "Girl with the Pearl Earring"  

Spire from the Old Church, that is it's actual reference name.

Old church again, this is also where Vermeer and Anthony van Leeuwenhoek are buried. I will tell you more about Leeuwenoek in a minute.

Old Church again! I've noticed that some of my photos are ever so slightly off balance.

This was Town Hall! Isn't it amazing?  

Gloria leading our walk through town!

Me and Gloria! It was so windy and it's hard to take a photo of yourself! 

This is where our friend Vermeer was born. It's just a building with a shop and apartments now, basically just this plaque makes it historical.  

 The beautiful New Church! 

Aren't these door amazing? The New Church has so many little details to make it interesting. The New Church also contains the Dutch Royal Family vault.

You might think this is just a subway, BUT YOU ARE WRONG! This is actually the building where the first dutch bible was translated. What do you think about that? 

Gloria geeking out, because Delft is also the birth place of Anthony van Leeuwenhoek! He is known as the father of microbiology because of his work in the science field and also because he was the first person to make a microscope that could view a single cell. This is just a monument to him.

Gloria given him some love!

Me at the smallest house in Delft! Isn't it cute? By the way, it rained all day for our trip so add all that wind together and we were exhausted at the end of that.

See? Isn't it tiny and adorable? I want to live there. And yes, it was a stopping point on the walking tour. 

I can't be 100% sure, but I think this is more of New Church. The walking tour took us in a few circles, but always lead us back to New Church some how.

 New Church again?

Wouldn't it be cool to have this as a door handle? I love seeing all the little, intricate details of these old buildings. 

Gloria (wet and cold) at Antony von Leeuwenhoek's old house. Now it is a clothing store. 

Sadly not in the photos include the eastern gate, which is the only remaining portion of the gate that surrounded the city and what made it the Prince of Oranges refuge. He lived here and died here as well. You can even go see the place where he was shot and see the bullet holes. Also the windmill of the city was being repaired while we were there, so nothing much to see. 

While we were taking our tour, we stopped in tons of Delft china shops. There are tons! We just happened to walk into one and the shop owner was so kind! He actually let us back into his workspace and took us through the entire process of making Delft china. It was really awesome and also really nice of him! Did you know that Delft china was created as a replica of chinese porcelain? Because the Dutch were heavily invested in the trade system (Dutch East India Company) they came across the chinese porcelain that was much more delicate. Because of the resources in Holland they created Delft china. It's a little more sturdy and heavier. But still the styles are molded after chinese porcelain with the flowers and other symbols. Typically the Delft is blue and white pattern, but now can also include other colors and more modern patterns. 

Alright I'll have to post again tomorrow about the happenings around Leiden!