Rotterdam Saturday

Nice big bed last night. Good breakfast this morning and we’re set to go.

We visited a Delft pottery this morning and had a guided tour. The “real” pottery is very labour intensive to make, with each piece made individually and hand painted. They use a black paint which, when mixed with the glaze, turns “Delft blue”. Many other colours are used on the pottery, but the blue looks the best by far.

 

 

We then drove into the old part of Delft, and were lucky? to get a street park quite close to where the canal boat trips went from. Got back to the car eventually to find that we had parked in a resident permit area. This is what a Delft parking ticket looks like.

 

 

 

We went on the boat trip, the town is beautiful with the canals, old buildings, people etc, although we did come across many New Zealanders. We walked around the old town, stopped for a good coffee, met another NZ couple.

 

 

 

Headed off to Tourist info, but were distracted a little by a rather high church spire. Surely, if it’s there it is there to be climbed. 376 steps doesn’t sound many, but when you look down, it is a long way to the ground.

 

 

 

Stopped for a cold drink at a cafe and asked if they sell coke. I should have phrased it differently. When I asked again for Coca Cola, we got Coca Cola.

Back to the car to find the parking ticket and 2 parking enforcement men walking along the street. Are we allowed to park here?, we ask. Bit of a very amicable conversation as one looks at his little machine and says “I’ve cancelled the ticket, you are nice people”. We told them that they are really nice too and how we appreciated them cancelling the ticket.

Had a great day in Delft.

We’re now in the hotel in Rotterdam, as a quick stop before we wind our way to Amsterdam.