Well no planes yet. And almost no trains but that's another story. We did our homework yesterday so knew what we were doing when we wheeled our suitcases down the beautiful streets we've stayed on for the last three days, dodged a few bikes, and caught the tram for a ride to Central Station. Platform 1 found our train to Haarlem waiting and 45 minutes later we were there, following the GPS in our little Yarus hybrid to the nearest parking for the Frans Hals Museum. We stopped in the central market area where we ate a lunch of cheese and bread on a bench before dropping into the TI for a map and directions to the museum.
Haarlem is wonderful!! Kind of an Amsterdam of decades ago. Much quieter. The fact that the weather is really cold might be part of it, all the many sidewalk cafes were empty. We both loved the museum and are feeling pretty well educated about Dutch art as well as Dutch life of the 17th Century. The Museum has a theme of "Museum in Bloom" this month so the flower arrangements were almost as impressive to me as the art.
Back in our car, we headed off to Rijswijk where we have an Air BnB apartment for three days. It is close to Den Hague and Delft where we'll spend the next two days.
We stopped off in Keukenhof, the famous tulip garden, knowing it was late in the season. The tulip fields on the way were all green with no sign of tulip flowers left. But the garden was beautiful if freezing. Everyone agrees, it is colder than normal and with a wind, it is hard to focus on the flowers at times.
Enough said, it has been a long day - here are some pictures.
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