This is what people ususally think of when anyone mentions Holland. I love this quaint part of Holland, and during my recent trip with my sister, we enjoyed much of Holland's history and old architecture. We arrived just a few days before St. Nicholas, as we know him, Sinterklaas day, and everywhere we went there were many "Zwarte Pieten." They are St. Nicholas' helpers and can be seen everywhere collecting money for the needy as well as handing out candy (pepernoten) to children who have been good.
Zwarte Piet is also known to capture bad little boys and girls and take them away in his sack... and when we were children we lived in as much fear of Zwarte Piet as we did relish the capture of the pepernoten he would throw about everywhere. It wasn't uncommon to be visiting an aunt or uncle, and have just Zwarte Piet's white gloved hand appear through the door throwing pepernoten our way, with a stern warning from our elders to be good, or else! It's a wonder that we all grew up fairly normal and well-adjusted. Both aunties from my mother's side had birthdays within days of each other, so naturally this was a warm family get-together. We also had a wonderful evening with my father's side of the family, as we visited with aunt, uncles, and cousins galore!
One afternoon we took the train to The Hague, and visited the Queen's throne room and the houses of parliament.
On my sister's "to-do" list was to eat croquetten, which we enjoyed one afternoon during a cousins outing in Rotterdam. We also saw the 1000 Years of Rotterdam exhibit in the Schieland Huis museum...
...and it was well worth the visit! It was there that I learned that Rotterdammers build their first dikes on the early 1300's... amazing!!! Our cousin then took us shopping in Middleburg, a small medieval town in the south of Holland...
and then to Zeeland, where she lives, and we enjoyed the one dry, sunny day of the week taking a dune walk along the North Sea...
...and then coffee and grocery shopping in the very small town of Haamstede... complete with a small castle!
We did see much more during this trip then we had planned, and it was fun, and gezellig, being with family again!
On Sunday we experienced lunch at Hotel New York in Rotterdam, where we enjoyed this great plate of oysters. Let me go on record to say that oysters from the North Sea do taste differently from oysters from the Chesapeake Bay.
Tuesday it was back to work, and every day since then it's been festive with lunch and dinner outings with my colleagues on the ethics commission and colleagues from work. Thus I was at Jessup's Tavern in Old New Castle twice this week. It's by far and away one of my favorite places.
The ambiance there is always great, and since the weather has been cold, the fireplace inside, even the fake one, just adds a warm feeling. Now it's on to finishing schoolwork and getting ready for Christmas!
