The original Haarlem

I need to work one day this weekend and I thought that would be today.  However, I woke up this morning with a strong desire to get out of town.  So I called an audible - went to the train station and took the first one headed out of town, which happened to be to Haarlem.

Haarlem is spitting distance from Amsterdam, but doesn't get nearly the hype that Amsterdam does.  It's a quaint town, much like Delft, but a bit bigger.  It is freezing cold in the Netherlands today, so I didn't wander around too much outside, but there is definitely plenty to do on a sunny day.  I will definitely be going back...I missed the Corrie Ten Boom house and a few other sites.  I also realised I've never ranked the Dutch cities I've been to.  Here's how they stack up so far:
1.  Delft - I love that little city that has more canals and pedestrian areas than cars.
2.  Haarlem - Great city for shopping, people watching and just relaxing.
3.  Amsterdam - Great for a day trip - best people watching in the Netherlands.  Crowded though.
4.  The Hague - Great to live in, not a lot of touristy things to do.  That's why I love living here - I get out more often.
5.  Arnhem - To be fair to Arnhem - I didn't spend much time in Arnhem itself.  But what I saw did not sell me on it.

Anyways, back to Haarlem:
1.  I took the slow milk run train to Haarlem because it was leaving first and I thought a nice slow train ride would be relaxing.  It was - I could see where all of the fields were planted with flowers and the first signs of spring were there....small, but there.  I think that train ride will be really cool when spring is in full force - should be flowers everywhere.

2.  I arrived in Haarlem and walked from the station to the center of town which was really easy.  There was a great little farmer's market in the center square that I wandered through and sampled a few things - cheese, breads and fruit.  Fun stuff.

3.  I think I underestimated how cold it would be today....I quickly realised that indoor activities were the best bet.  I went to Grote Kerk, which RS gives 1 pyramid.  I would agree - its huge, but the best part is the organ:

This massive organ has 3 keyboards, 65 stops, and more pedals than can be counted.  10 year old Mozart played this 5,000 pipe beast early in his career and then later in 1766 he returned to play again.  Handel played it the year before he wrote "Messiah".  The organist can't be seen while playing - he/she sits somewhere in all those pipes (I hope they have ear plugs).  Some of the pipes are 20 feet tall.  It covers 8 octaves.  Impressive!

Grote Kerk is also the burial place of the rich and famous Dutch.  The floor is literally the crypt:

There are graves all over the interior, including that of Frans Hals - a Dutch master painter.  More on him later.  Apparently this is also where the phrase "stinking rich" originated.  The rich would be buried below the church, often in peasant areas.  The burials were not done to today's standards, meaning that often an unpleasant smell would come from the graves for months after burials.  Hence, "stinking rich".  Not sure if that's true - but whole new meaning for me!

The church just feels open and airy.  Apparently, prior to the Reformation, the church walls were covered in paintings reminscent of Rome.  However, post Reformation, the congregants white washed the walls to remove signs of saints, etc.  Makes you wonder what it would have looked like:



In 2008, Queen Beatrix unvieled a newly commissioned stain glass piece in the church:

The piece is called "Peace and Tolerance" and shows depictions of each of the major world religions heading into salvation.  The bottom half has each of the signs of the zodiac included.  Hmmmmmmmmm.  Maybe taking the Reformation a bit too far.

Finally, here is the exterior of the church:

I enjoyed the church  - definitely worth a visit.

3.  After the church visit, I walked through the shopping area and enjoyed the people watching before heading to the Frans Hals museum (dead guy mentioned above).  RS gives it 2 pyramids.  I must not have been in a pretentious art mood, because I definitely didn't get it.  I give it 1 - at best.  Frans Hals was raised and lived the majority of his life in Haarlem.  He painted many scenes of men standing in a group.  That's the gist of it.  I just can't get excited about men standing in a group.  There were several whole rooms full of huge paintings of men standing in a group or sitting around a table.  Just not interesting to me.  He's no Rembrandt.  I will say that one of the rooms had some Jan Steen, who is growing on me more and more.  He really enjoys painting mischievous scenes that just look fun to be in.  In this particular one, he painted a scene of all drunk people.  Not that I wanted to be in it, it was just funny to see a woman crouching to pee in a famous painting.  Nicely done Steen, keeping it classy.

The walk there was nice though:

After that, I headed back to the Grote Markt to find food...the RS place I wanted to try wasn't open yet and it was so cold I just went in the nearest place that was open.  Thankfully I got lucky and it had good food - some of the best fries I've had here.

4.  I headed back early because 6 Nations Rugby Eng v. France starts in an hour - need to scope out my spot for watching!