Yoooou Can't Take the A Train!

But you can easily get to Haarlem.  I did!

Goededag!

The day unexpectedly became brilliantly sunny and was hot in the afternoon.  Had I but known I’d have gone somewhere more rural, but Haarlem was in fact a delightful day trip from Amsterdam.   I wandered the canals and streets accompanied by the musical clangs of a carillon concert.

One can tram to the Centraal Station easily, but I walked across town.  It took about forty-five minutes as I occasionally stopped to lick a window.  At the station I shelled out fifty euro cents to use the WC.  Now I love coming to Europe and enjoy myself hugely, but my complaint has always been 1) lack of public toilets, 2) need to pay in the rare occasion one comes upon one.  For a middle-aged woman such as myself this can be problematical.  In case you are wondering why I’m so eager to get to a museum—often it’s the facilities as much as the exhibits that draw me.

One can count on clean (and expensive toilets) at large train stations and sometimes in shopping malls.  Even in department stores there’s usually a charge.  Rant over.

Back to Haarlem which is a very easy town, well sign posted, and with a straight ten minute walk from the station to the Grote Markt, which is the center of the historic center.  The space is open and mostly surrounded by cafes.  On such a nice day, they were crowded with people sitting outdoors enjoying the sun.  On one side sits the massive St. Bavo’s a beautiful Gothic church. The town, its shops, and pretty canals are charming.

First I went to the Teyler’s Museum because it was on the museum card and the Frans Hals Museum opened later.  The Teyler has a lot of fossils and minerals.  The free audio guide told me about the ones I was interested in.  There’s also a collection of gadgets from the past.  Suddenly coming upon a collection of “dinosaur” computers made me feel on the ancient side myself!  A few of you may even remember manual typewriters.  A collection of these artifacts from times gone by were displayed as well.

The museum also has a nice collection of Dutch Art from various periods.  The gems of the collection alas are not on display.  The museum owns several original drawings by Michelangelo and Rembrandt, but it shows only reproductions, and one has to make a special effort to see those.

On my way to the museum I came across a likely-looking gelato shop, so I back tracked for a snack.  At last!  I had some honey almond—so good it nearly killed me and some rich deeply-flavored chocolate—worth the trip all on its own.

After strolling the pedestrianized streets and walking along the canals I made my way to the Frans Hals Museum.  Housed in a handsome former almshouse for retired men, it’s quite large.  Works by Hals and his contemporaries as well as period furniture and ceramics are well presented.  Hals specialized in lively portraits, and his later work is almost Impressionistic in its execution.  The bread and butter of seventeenth century artists was the group or corporate portrait featuring committees, militia, or guilds.  Hals manages to make these look spontaneous.

Apart from Hal’s work, I enjoyed the still lives the most.  The Dutch love of flowers is much in evidence in some gorgeous paintings.  The other popular subject was a table laden with luxurious pewter and glass beautifully rendered along with the remains of succulent meals.  See the opened oysters, the bread, the half-peeled lemon?  Like the exquisite flowers, these, too, will pass quickly into oblivion, say the Dutch, like all merely earthly pleasures.

Then back to Amsterdam.  The train cars have two levels, and I managed to snag a window seat on the top level.  Water is everywhere, but I also caught glimpses of farms and saw fields with ponies and cows.  The land looks lush and green—and flat.  Very flat.

Dinner wasn’t that exciting.  I had salad, sausage and mustard and Dutch beer—very lekker, but not that much of a thrill.

Dag!