Amsterdam/Den Haag/Delft-Day 7

Tim left the show early today so we decided to have a little adventure.  He really wanted to visit Mauritshuis museum at The Haag, and Cheryl and I tagged along.  Later, Cheryl took the train back to Amsterdam to meet her husband and Tim and I went on to Delft.

not many of these old windmills around any more!

A beautiful day in Den Haag

We were fortunate to see this on exhibition before the official opening

I have seen several of these small knights atop houses in Delft.

I wish I knew what they are called.

So we walked into old Delft square and.....a carnival!

Delft Square is always full of surprises.  Two years ago,

we were able to watch a huge bocci ball tournament, 

followed by several wedding parties.

The people of Delft like to have parties!

It was crazy and surreal to see all this American stuff in the middle of Delft.

This was so crazy and ironic.

We had dinner at Den Waag, then meandered back to the train.

It was nice to walk in the rain.

It is beginning to look like fall here.

A few leaves starting to kiss the ground.

Tomorrow we leave for home.

Thanks for traveling along with me to the Netherlands.

I look forward to returning again next year.

ltj

Amsterdam Day 6 Random images

The following are images I captured while wandering yesterday in Amsterdam:

cool "animal" sculptures created from scrap metal,

seen in what looks like a community garden

This sculpture installation resides inside the Opera House lobby

amazing

weird seed pods laying on a metal grate

Verzetsmuseum (The Dutch Resistance Museum)

Thanks to someone on Facebook I was made aware of a special exhibit at the Verzetsmuseum about embroideries done by women held captive in camps during WWII.  The museum was so interesting and informative in all respects.  Our first interaction was with the most unpleasant, authoritative woman at their front desk.  Unbelievably brusque and rude, to the point of making us laugh.  Aside from that, the museum was full of very poignant, bittersweet memorabilia, and we were educated about the resistance in a way that made this part of history come alive.
I was, of course, particularly moved by the samples of embroideries made by women held captive.  I simply cannot imagine being in their place, but somehow the story of how they held onto their sanity came alive through seeing these small works.  I took a sampling of photos so I could share with you.  It was unbelievably touching.

The description below this image is of the woman featured here.

What a gutsy broad!  

The "Winter Help" project was a propaganda move on the part of 

the Nazis to improve their image with the Dutch.

 women began to take threads from sheets, edges of garments, anywhere they could 

get them, and steal a needle from their repair kits from their workloads for the Germans.

Any small bit of cloth and thread was used to create their embroideries.

With this small defiant act, they found a way to express themselves.

 description below

 description below

 this bra was made by piece-mealing together bits of cloth.  It is

embroidered with the symbol of her work camp.

Westermarkt observations/purchases

 plastic and knitted finger puppets.  Had to have them.

Dinner at the Sea Palace

The Sea Palace restaurant was the setting for the Newtek international dealers' dinner this year, and, luckily for us, it was a short walk from our hotel.  A beautiful restaurant with truly delicious food.  A good time was had by all.

Jim, standing on the deck of the third level.

It was a beautiful evening to be outside.

Tim and Rex.

My place card.

Some of our table mates

More of the party

Pauline, from South Africa, next to Franck

Tim hits 'record" and slowly turns the camera around on the server

Leslie & Kiki

Jim shows his almost-finished pizza oven!

A first:  a scallop dish, served in its own shell

The beautiful night sky with a full moon

outside on the deck after the rain passed

a few of the stunning floral arrangements in the restaurant

heading back down the stairs (Tim and Franck ahead)