Delft

Our next visit was to the lovely old town of Delft where another relative of Andrew's lives in the small township of Nootdorp very close to Delft.  Once again we received warm Dutch hospitality with coffee, applecake and later in the day a variety of home made pancakes made by Henk who is Ron De Beer's son-in-law and husband of Femke.  Ron is the son of the cousin whose family took in and raised Andrew's orphaned father.  We are not at this stage exactly certain of the exact relationships between the families but I am planning to work on it when we visit yet another cousin later on this week in another part of Holland.

Now for a small tour of Delft.  Delft is the city famous for the typically blue and white pottery which is world famous.  Unfortunately, it is not the type of ceramics that are to my taste and apart from the one single lamp post which took my fancy, none of the photos taken in the town show the blue and white pottery.

The town hall.  Sadly, the weather was particularly dismal the day we visited Delft and umbrellas dominated. But it did not stop people walking and cycling around the city.

Umbrella on the canal

Lamp post in typical Delft pottery style

These buildings have different sorts of gables from other houses.  These are step gables.  The decoration is a facade and there is a staircase behind in the house itself.

Looking down towards the former Corn Market now a building providing student accommodation.

The Prinsenhof or monastery where William of Orange was murdered in 1584.  It is now a museum dedicated to the House of Orange with displays of the royal family going back to the 16th century.    

Above is one of the loveliest old buildings in Delft.  The architecture is gothic and the house was built about 1505.  It belonged to a rich Delft personage.  The front is richly decorated with shields.

It now houses some of the town archives as well as the office of local water management.  

Unfortunately as it is right on the canal with a large tree in front it is very difficult to take photo of the whole building.  The spire on the left is the top of the building.  You have to use your imagination and put it all together.