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HAARLEM Haarlem is a charming town to visit. There are many museums including the Teylers, Frans Hals and Corrie Ten Boom House. The visitors' center provides a walking tour to see the sights and there are many cafes along the streets, and canals. The city is 900 years old and received a city charter in 1245. The streets are very interesting to walk with the mix of old and new buildings and the city is very much alive. Many students and people working in Amsterdam live here. We would have liked to stay longer.
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One of our nicest locations. We tied up in front of the Haarlem Yacht Club for 2 days. It was a 10 minute bus ride to the center of town.
So convenient. Cars can stop for fuel on one side and boats on this side.
Very often the canals we are following are higher than the surrounding farms, but here we are passing over a major highway.
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The Grote Kerk (Great Church) was built between 1390 and 1520. The Muller Organ (above) is one of Europe's most famous. It has 3 keyboards, 68 registers and 5000 pipes and is 30 meters (100 feet) high. Built in 1738 it was played by Mozart when he was the ten year old musical sensation of Europe. Handel also played it twice.
We visited the Ten Boom home in Haarlem. The Ten Boom family hide people during the Nazi occupation of World War II - Jews and members of the Dutch resistance. The family was betrayed and were arrested in early 1944 when the Gestapo raided the house. Corrie was the only survivor and lived until she was 91, devoting her life to preaching about the power of her Christian faith. Her book, The Hiding Place, is very well written and gives a detailed view of Dutch life under Nazi occupation and life and death in the concentration camps. All this took place only a few years before I was born, but it is nearly impossible for me to believe and understand what so many Europeans lived through.
Someone watching us as we sail through downtown Haarlem |
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Teylers Museum was founded in 1778 and is the country's oldest museum. It was very interesting to see what museums used to look like, with the exception of indoor plumbing and electricity this museum has hardly changed over the years. My favorite part was the collection of 18th and 19th century scientific instruments.
Our route took us right through the middle of Haarlem, through 8 bridges.
Because our trip was late in the year, many bridges and locks had very reduced operating times. After making it through one bridge that opened for the last time that day at 5 PM we arrived at the next one to find it also opened for the last time at 5 PM. We did have a quiet and beautiful night tied up to another boat on the canal.
The bridge did open the next morning at 10 AM which made us feel lucky. Since it was a Sunday it could easily have been closed until Monday (as was the following bridge).
We arrived at Bridge 666 at 10 AM, but had to wait until 9:15 PM before it opened. Then we followed the canals through Gouda and on October 24th arrived in Willemstad. Earlier in the trip we had been looking forward to stopping in Gouda for more cheese but after waiting so long at so many bridges we just kept right on going. We have cheese from Edam. Yup, plans change.