Saturday 14th September – Haarlem

We took a train from Amsterdam to Haarlem with Helen and Ken and it was all uneventful – apart from the worry that we were in first class seats and should have been in second class such was the plushness and cleanliness of the train carriage – but there was no need to have worried, when we arrived in Haarlem and checked the rest of the carriages, they all had the same lush seats and seating area.

Our accommodation was out of the city, “just one stop on the bus” as had been reported on Trip Advisor – well it might be one stop in European circles, but one stop here equals about six-eight stops at home.  (Even getting to the airport this morning was only three stops and it was miles away!) 

We ‘lucked out’ in that there was a festival happening on 14/15 September in Haarlem and all of the major public buildings were open free to the public.  WOW!  We went to the "Great Church or St Bavo's Haarlem".  It is a magnificent church and we were provided with some statistics: 

 

*  1st October 653 St Bavo died, the patron saint of the church

*  1347 and 1351 town fires damaged the church

*  1559 the Bravo became a cathedral church

*  1572 was the Reformation

*  1735 the Christian Muller organ was constructed

 

The floor of the Bavo Church consists entirely of gravestones.  It felt very strange and wrong to be walking over the graves of long departed souls.  There are 1500 gravestones, the oldest of which date back as far as the fifteenth century.

Gravestones that are the floor of St Bavo's church



A gravestone - 1618

And - there is a special Chapel called the "Dog Whipper's Chapel" (I thought it was the Dog Whisperer's Chapel).  In the Middle Ages a dog whipper's task was to discipline unruly dogs and to maintain order in the church.

 

And grossly, on the reverse side of the communion board, a report of the siege of Haarlem in 1573 says: "dogs and cats were called roast game".

 

The town square was covered with a huge flower 'mural' depicting one of Van Gogh's works which was magnificent. 

Spectacular in flowers.

Have I mentioned the bicycles?! We are still amazed with the mode of transport here - it's basically all bicycles and the designs of them are truly ingenious.

Transport for the kids and shopping!

The Town Hall was another of the major buildings open to the public so we ventured in and were greeted by the “flower maidens”. We went into the chamber room overlooking the city square and it turns out that it is the mayor’s office.  John asked if it was the “Burgermeister’s office” and the guide was so excited that John knew that term, she engaged with him for ages.  There has never been a female Burgermeister and probably never will be, but John proclaimed her the Burgermeister for the day.  She was so thrilled!  He even got her to demonstrate what happens with the handles that hang from the mantles – they were/are used for the main man to hang from when he’s feeling a bit “emotional” after standing in front of the open fire  having a few sherberts solving the problems of the world – or his small empire at least. 

John's newly-appointed Burgermeister!

Our grandies would have loved the carousel in the city square – the rides ranged from a car pulling a caravan; horses pulling Ben Hurr’s chariot; a fireman’s engine; a police car; and of course Vespers.  It was simply stunning.


Carousel with Ben Hurr chariot, fire engine, caravan ...

We finished the evening off with a ‘farewell dinner’ for the four of us ... having met on the train from Prague to Budapest then our final journey together from Amsterdam to Haarlem.  We’ll be in touch when back in Melbourne.

Tomorrow we’ll start our journey from Haarlem to Brugges then freewheel through the WWI sites on our way to Paris.