Haarlem, Holland

Although we are only two hours by train from Amsterdam, we have been saving this trip for springtime (you'll understand why when I post our Keukenhof pictures). Daisy and I left on Friday morning and spent a half-day in Haarlem before meeting Chris at our hotel in Amsterdam that night, after work. The Iceland volcano ash was halting air travel, and our trains were both so packed with people standing that the train personnel didn't even bother checking tickets. Frederic, the person we rented a flat from, said that he had 9 cancellations for that night because of flight delays.

Haarlem, Holland gave its name to Harlem, New York back when New York was still New Amsterdam. Like Amsterdam, it has canals, brick buildings, and even a red light district. Daisy and I came to see its beautiful central square, its church, and the Corrie ten Boom house.

Here's the scene: Daisy is sleeping soundly in her buggy. I am striding into town, trying to decide what I'll eat with my coffee as I relax in the quaint central square I had read about. Slowly, I realize that the music is thumping louder and louder, and that I'm hearing more and more choruses of screams. As I turn the corner, my hopes plummet as I take in the massive carnival whipping up the peace of quiet square. There is hardly any room for sidewalk seating! Daisy wakes up due to the screeching and it's on to plan B.
We seek quiet in the old church and I can't stop gasping at the huge, steely floor-to-ceiling organ with baroque ornaments. Daisy even starts repeating me: "Oh my gOODness!" When it was built in the early 1700's, it was the largest in the world. Handel, Mendelssohn, and a 10-year-old Mozart have played this organ. It is also mentioned in Moby Dick as the author describes the inside of a whale's mouth: "Seeing all these colonnades of bone so methodically ranged about, would you not think you were inside of the great Haarlem organ, and gazing upon its thousand pipes?"
Next, we make it to the Corrie ten Boom house for an hour-long tour. Daisy likes walking up and down the very steep staircases and nibbling raisins. I hear the story of Corrie's protection of Jews in "the hiding place" but I'm even more captivated by her message of forgiveness, even after half of her family dies in the camps, and her simple, humble, practical, child-like faith. About this picture: Corrie's family built a fake wall in Corrie's bedroom. They were careful to reproduce water stains on the same wallpaper, and made the wall really go down through the carpet. They stuck a pantry on the left. The refugees would hear a warning buzzer, dive into the lower section of the pantry and pull down a door, leaning against it so that it would sound solid if knocked. (It was never discovered; the hole in the wall is just for tourists to see inside better.)
Haarlem has a renovated windmill. We ended up seeing multiple windmills while in Holland, much to my delight.
My first glimpse of the superior level of creativity the Dutch achieve with their bicycles. Not to mention their footwear.