The Haarlem Shuffle

in

It’s only recently that I’ve realised how small the Netherlands is, and how the distances between the larger cities is just a relatively short train ride away. With that in mind I did some research pre-trip and knew that Haarlem was a must see. And yes, the architecture is the same as in Amsterdam, but the buildings are generally not as tall.

Some of them still have lots of interesting details on them though.

And sometimes the people who live there add their own, revealing something about themselves.

Our first port of call was the Teylers Museum, which also happens to be the oldest museum in the whole country, created in 1784. It was truly an amazing place, so it will get its own post because it’s crazy brilliant.

Afterwards we had lunch at DeDakkas, a great restaurant on top of a car park. Definitely going back there one day.

It felt weird to have been somewhere so nice, and to then walk down the stairs in a six story car park. But even a stairwell in such a place can give you a nice picture.

We then walked through the Gouden Straatjes (The Golden Streets) to have a look at the shops, but they were all shut as it was Sunday, as well as Whitsun. Double whammy.

Same deal for Grote Kerk. A visit for another time I guess.

I love Dutch architecture so much, which probably explains why my favourite building material is brick.

It helps that the clay they used is a really nice colour too.

We walked nearly 17000 steps that day, but we took little breaks every now and again. Here we sat by the canal watching the boats - and sometimes dogs - go by.

Nice painted tiles in a doorway.

Most of the streets in centre of town are car free, which always feels like such a treat when you live in a city like London. We have the priorities all wrong here - the car is king. Most of these houses are residential, and some don’t have a back garden, so you’ll find tables and chairs set up outside someone’s front door, and the residents hanging out there. Me and Z were a bit behind A & D at this point, and when we caught up with them they were chatting away to some people who were doing exactly that, and as we approached one of them greeted me by my name and poured me a little glass of wine. Turns out that D had said “Is this a bar?” as they walked by, and overhearing her the guy went “It’s the best bar in Haarlem!”, when it actually was his house. They were having people round for a late lunch, and we stopped for a little bit, chatting away. Gezellig!

A’s Hockney bag kind of felt applicable in that moment.

I really wanted to check out Proveniers hofje, a large set of houses set around an inner courtyard. Usually hofjes are almshouses, but these in particular were for built for gentlemen (!) who paid for their lodgings in the 1700’s, so the houses are bigger than usual.

We all agreed that it’s a really good way of living, as long as you get on with your neighbours of course. Would definitely help with the loneliness epidemic we have in parts of the world.

We didn’t want to hang around for too long, as we were actually a bit late for the official open-to-the-public times, so we quietly made our way out and continued our perambulation in the neighbourhood.

Peeps, it was magical. So magical that I only took one picture, which is always a sign of me properly taking something in. Street after street looked more or less like this. In amongst the houses were sweet looking bars and restaurants, full of what looked like locals. The place was not mentioned in any guides or in any research that I’d done, we just happened upon it. I always enjoy walking through residential neighbourhoods more than any sightseeing, as it’s so much more interesting.

You still come across sights worth seeing.

On our way back to the train station we had to walk through the city centre again, and we oooooh’d and aaaaaaah’d over this Art Deco beaut

and click click clicked.

Nice old liquor and wine shop doors, don’t you think?

The last canal we crossed before the train station. Perfect light (ha! when I typed this I typed ‘life’ instead of light. Freudian slip anyone?)

I can’t tell you how nice this outing was, as Amsterdam itself is insanely busy. They get 20 million tourists visiting a year now, which is the same as London, but London is eight times bigger than Amsterdam - eek. You really notice the difference from only five years ago. On a bike it’s not too bad, but on foot it’s intense in places. So I’m definitely up for exploring the rest of the country more on future trips. Trains between Amsterdam and Haarlem only take 15 mins, departing every five minutes. Ridiculous! And the beach from Haarlem is just 10 minutes west. In fact, on the train back most people were coming back from the beach, and there was sand on the train seats. Do Dutch people know how good they’ve got it? I think so. But thinking about it, maybe Haarlem wasn’t that great. In fact, it was the pits. You definitely don’t want to go there 😉

The Harlem Shuffle 💃🏽🕺🏽

A good Saturday

in

10 days ago, very early in the morning, this is what I saw as I was eating my Pret breakfast. Seeing hen parties as you sit and wait to board an 8am train is a bit nerve wracking, as all you want is a quiet carriage and a pleasant journey. Fortunately the two groups we saw were getting on the Paris train, and not ours to Amsterdam.

It was time for a repeat trip to my home from home with D & A, a year later. A had the foresight to bring playing cards and we warmed up with this game, where you didn’t want to end up with the queen of hearts. Such a fun and simple one, with lots of tension. And yes, D picked it up here.

The four hour journey goes really quickly when you play cards. We realised that we might be the last generation who play regular card games, as I can’t imagine today’s kids being that interested, when you have games like Exploding Kittens etc. I have to teach Oomoo this though, which I hadn’t played in 20 years. Shithead is such a brilliant game, the perfect mix of strategy and luck, and the fact that your hand can change very quickly, from good to bad and back again makes it really fun.

Arriving in Amsterdam is really easy now that my friend Z lives in Noord. Once we arrive at Central Station it’s a five minute tube ride, and boom there we are.

Just like last year we headed straight to Liever Hier for lunch, and this time we got a great table, so great that we stayed there for a couple of hours, eating incredibly well and catching up.

The table was hidden amongst the tall grass (much taller than last year)

and Z picked some to take home

as well as some cow parsley.

I asked Z to take a seat here as I wanted a picture of the café (to the left of yellow tree) and just as I took the picture this woman and her dog walked past and made it complete. Smiles all around.

We then heard the unmistakeable sound of a Solex tour.

Look how happy they are! Such a good idea.

Here’s a clip I filmed last summer when we got overtaken on our pushbikes by a tour. If you cycle north for 10 minutes from Z’s front door you arrive in the countryside. Didn’t manage it this time round, but there’s always the next trip.

After our long meal we needed to stretch our legs so we walked around this little inlet and admired the light catching on the lily pads.

A did some tree bonding too.

We then spent the evening on Z’s balcony and felt very pleased by the fact that we hadn’t even ventured into the city centre. I realised on the last trip to Amsterdam last August that I can’t keep up my usual tempo on city breaks anymore, and that maybe less is more after all.

So here’s to more balcony hangs in the future 🧡

Low lights

in

Haha! Love that the title of my last post applies to both spring and me. I don’t know what it’s been like where you are, but here in the UK we’ve had an abnormally cold and wet spring, with the occasional warm day to confuse us even more. So these pictures from March actually still feel relevant. One Tuesday evening I met with my old magazine crew (not pictured - my old boss) at the Holy Tavern pub in Clerkenwell.

I’m not sure if they’ve always done this, but this winter they had “Candlelit Tuesdays”, as a lot of pubs have done (to deal with the insanely expensive energy bills).

It makes it incredibly cosy, and gives you a bit of a flavour of what hanging out in pubs pre-electricity might have been like. This particular pub is faux-Georgian, in a real Georgian building from 1720, but re-decorated in a Georgian style.

Of course we ate better than they would’ve in those days.

Even though some of us might have fitted in table manner-wise.

A and I used to sit next to each other at work some 20 odd years ago, (when we were kids basically) and we’d always make each other laugh, occasionally singing (more often than not this) and dancing, but on the hush. A knew the whole Janet Jackson Rhythm Nation dance routine, and I would answer with my Michael Jackson face in the Thriller video, when the camera pans round to show him having turned into a zombie, with the following shoulder shrug, sideways hip thrust and claw hands (starting at 0:44). I need to see her do that routine again, for old times sake. I’ve had the (not) joy of having a frozen shoulder since December, so I feel jealous of anyone able to to a shoulder shrug right now.

We’re off to Amsterdam again in a couple of weeks time, and that trip has been my dangling carrot this whole winter. It always felt a long way away, and now we’re in the middle of May, and almost there.

When we met up a couple of days ago D was still wearing the same hat. So come on spring, make your mind up, and don’t pass on your moodiness to summer this year. That would just be too mean.