Trams, Trains and Beautiful Delft

 Delft accidently blew itself off the planet, aka the Delft Thunderclap, which happened on 12 October 1654.  A gunpowder store exploded (30 tons of gunpowder makes a BIG bang) and took a great deal of the city and inhabitants with it.  Thus, parts of Delft are on the “young side” of the European age scale.  The Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) was unaffected and there the House of Orange family gang hangs out in crypts and graves, which are ornate and moving.   But, our family has a personal claim to fame In the New Church and that is, it has twice been scaled by Sir David of Nowhere and Everywhere.   Today his goat-like legs took him up (and down) all 351 steps.  He was typically nonplussed and physically relaxed when we met him at the Heineken cafe for a celebratory beer.  

This is a charming and inviting corner of Holland to visit.  The town squares are beautiful, surrounded by interesting shops and many tempting restaurants and bars.   It was a bit of a challenge to find our way here from AMS because the usually efficient Dutch train system had a screen freeze going on at Centraal and so we kind of had to guess our way.   Dave guided us flawlessly through a pause and leap at Leiden and shortly thereafter, we were immersed in the colors of Delft.  A superlative day, in every way.

This is the church that Dave scaled, all the way to the top of that clock!

The train station at Centraal, efficient, precisely on time (but sometimes the screens stop working!)

Apparently the lean of the Old Church is almost two metres off plumb, but the four corner towers replaced in 1900 were straight.  Whatever that means!