Day in Delft

I've been feeling like I should use my weekends wisely since they are limited, so Saturday I went to Delft, a little town about 20 minutes away by tram. It's famous for Delftware, that blue and white pottery, and the guy who painted "Girl with a Pearl Earring" (which is actually in a museum in The Hague that had a line down the block on Sunday). And it's adorable.

That's the Oude Kerk in the background. That just means old church. And by old, they mean built in the 13th century. So pretty darn oude.

Just looking down the canal the opposite way, because you can really never have enough pictures of European canals.

I think it's crazy how these houses are built basically IN the canals. And what are those doors for? The door on the right has a little bit of a porch, but the others? If I had ungracious house guests, that's the door I would make them exit through.

This is the Nieuwe Kerk. Guess what that means. This one was JUST built...in the 15th century.

After walking around the city a bit, listening to street performers playing accordions and a calliope(!), I decided to actually go in the churches. This is in the old church. Both had great stain glass windows, but I wasn't interested enough in reading to find out what stories they all told. 

This is in the new church, on a memorial at the tomb of some prince. There were lots of dead important people underfoot. Doesn't this lady look like she's holding a cowboy hat? OK, it's more of a Speedy Gonzales hat, but still makes me feel a little closer to my side of the world. 

And then some artwork on the street. I have my guesses of what it is, but I'd be interested to hear anyone else's take on it.

I also ventured to the beach on the other end of the tram line, but it was gray out and cold and nothing like a beach should be, so I won't even bother showing you either of the two pictures I snapped. And no, there weren't even any topless Europeans there.