Netherlands...Amersfoort

I am a little behind in my posts, as some of you may know, I have since left Amersfoort, and Haarlem and am now in Amsterdam but I want to keep the posts a little bit separate so let's go back to Amersfoort...

The reason for visiting this town was to see Pieter and Jorin but the town itself was definitely worth it as well. Seeing friends (and in this case actually meeting Jorin!) is a highlight of travel and we had a wonderful weekend of exploring and long conversations ranging from the funny to very deep. I loved this side of the trip but we also fit quite a bit in. What I am discovering is that the Netherlands is small so we were able to do more than I expected. The first night we went to a local ballon festival with some of their friends (who were so welcoming and I really enjoyed talking to!), followed the next day by a visit to Delft, The Hague and then the beach. Delft was pretty and had a market where I was able to try various local Dutch specialities including fried fish, Dutch waffles (thin ones unlike the the thick Belgian waffles) and krokets plus Heineken beer. The blue and white china was everywhere and so were the bicycles. People ride everywhere and while it was strange to see so many people riding with helmets, I think the difference is they have their own proper bike paths, they are given priority with everyone looking out for them and they don't ride too fast.

After Delft we went to The Hague and that had a different feel as the canals had mostly been paved over and there were more restaurants and cafes. You could tell it was the city with the palaces, the parliament and basically where there was more money. We were able to walk around the streets and just soak up the atmosphere and admire the architecture. Finally we went to the beach which had cafes right on the beach and it was a nice way to end a busy day. 

On Sunday after church (a great service!) we went for a bike ride into Amersfoort centre. Here is my fun fact - I can still ride a bicycle after many years. We were able to easily ride into the town where they were having a jazz festival so we watched some jazz, had a drink in the square and I could soak up the last few moments in a place I loved with people who have become dear friends!