Pass that Dutch: Episode 4.5, or OMDelft

Alright, on this segment of our journey you may notice my mood gradually change from totally sour (thanks a lot Hague!) to completely falling in love with the city of Delft. Lets begin

Cameron wanted to take a picture on the train ride from The Hague to Delft but I hadn't eaten lunch and it was like 3 pm.

Ugh! Beautiful canals! We walked around for a bit, before deciding what to do. And wow, we walked passed this open air fish market, that would fry whatever fish you wanted right in front of you. I could smell it from like a mile away, and was dying to get some. Sadly, all the good stuff was gone, and I don't speak dutch, so we had to pass

I really didn't want to be Cam's pose monkey, but he decided to snap one anyway

This picture was taken after I found a bathroom and guzzled a bottle of water, and then found some chocolate in my purse. In front of Nieuwe Kerk (New Church)

Oh my gosh, it was beautiful inside

Massive pillars! Vermeer actually did a lot of paintings of Nieuwe Kerk, and loved to paint those beautiful white pillars

I felt bad, because I was just stumbling around, and then realized I was walking on a ton of people's graves. They COVER the ground in the churches in Delft.

We couldn't get a good enough picture, but the stained glass here was in. sane. This may be mega blasphemous, but no wonder people thought they could buy their way into heaven! These churches are so gargantuan!

I would not mind naked putti on my tombstone, I'm just saying...

So one of the big draws to visiting this church is that it is also the burial site of William of Orange (the grandfather of the Netherlands and everyone is obsessed with him...like every. single. city. has a sculpture of him in their town square.)

Awesome. A Petrified dead William of Orange. JK! Someone just carved the likeness of his corpse into stone

Look at that ish!

This is the backside of William of Orange's tomb

Oh yeah, I'm impressed

Handsome devil. I didn't think Cameron would be allowed to enter an old, holy church when he was looking that good! Luckily, he gave the old Dutch lady his Jones charm, she swooned, and we were in.

What the organ

Nice choice of hymns

Ok, so the other totally awesome thing about Nieuwe Kerk is that is has this MASSIVE, super tall tower. tallest church tower in Holland...I belief? Anywho, I was still low blood sugar, and climbing 500+ stairs did not sound good to me, so Cameron literally RAN up the tower to get a good look. I think this is a pic of the back of the clock?

super narrow stairs. My hands get sweaty just looking at this. I get mega-vertigo, and I don't like walking up, down or on things that I could possibly fall through.

inside top of the tower

He made it! Look at that view! (Oulde Kerk in the background.)

I'm pretty sure thats the ocean, far in the background.

Stone carving of something at the top of the tower

Sorry, I just left the computer to go puke my guts out over this picture. Cameron is a brave man, and I would have cried and clung to the edge of the tower

The main city square

More clock stuff?

I wish Lehi's town hall looked like this

Now onto Oude Kerk!

Are you kidding me? Why did we stop building churches like this. Oh, we don't do slave labor anymore? yeah, ok, I get it.

What what! Burial site of Vermeer!

I was really excited about Vermeer's grave. Actually, here's the real story. Vermeer died a pauper, and they just buried him SOMEWHERE in Oude Kerk. I think his daughter was pretty pissed about it, and then made the church put up a big plaque in his honor. You go girl. And yeah, dad I would do that for you. Actually, I wouldn't even let you be buried as a pauper to begin with, but whatevs. 

Someone's super bangin burial site

William of Orange! What a flippin surprise!

Ok! So for our trip to Delft, I just wanted to see Nieuwe and Oude Kerk, and then buy some Delftware (that famous white and blue china that you get from Delft.) So the thing is, they sell fake stuff ALL OVER the country. There are only 3 REAL delftware factories in the entire country, and they are all in Delft. We just happened to hit the most awesome one.

Look at all of that stuff. All hand made by a certified potter, and then hand painted by a certified painter

The potter's raw pieces

This is what we bought for my mother-in-law. So EXQUISITE!

The little vase on the right is what I bought for myself, because that stuff is expensive! Rightfully so, but still expensive.

Look at the detail of this bowl! It is a one of a kind bowl, no replica's made.

My little vase, not one of a kind but still gorgeous

This was the painter who was running the shop when we came in! we stayed for 2 hours! trying to decide what to get, and she even let us use her internet to skype Mama Jones to see what she would like. Such an awesome experience. Her name is "Annie" or thats what she calls herself to Americans who would have a hard time pronouncing her name. She went through 7 years of school to become a certified Delftware painter, but that was just the basic training. She's been in the business for over 40 years. Yeah, she is a total baller. Also, she was the only other woman I saw in Holland who had short hair like me.

So flippin' happy! Everyone in the city was so sweet, and kind! and loved us for being American and coming to visit their little town. 

Look at that place? Its so quaint and charming I want to die

You know you have the real Delftware when it says De Candelaer and has a painting of a candle on it. (well, thats at least the signature of the factory that we went to.)

I don't know about you, but whenever I go to a new city, I start imagining what it would be like to live there. With Amsterdam, I was like, eh yeah, I could do this. With the Hague I was like, screw it, screw you, screw it all. With Delft I was like, yes, oh hell yes. I would love it here. The other awesome part of Delft was that not a ton of people spoke English, which made it less touristy and more REAL dutch, ya know?

Annie from the Delftware factory recommended this fish place for us to go to dinner (rule #1 when traveling, ALWAYS get restaurant advice from the locals.) This place was so insanely good that I'm actually going mute trying to describe it. It was restaurant week in Holland, so there was a prix fixe menu. Lucky for us, because this place had no English menu's, and only the owner and 1 waitress spoke English. They tried hard to translate for us, but whatever it was we ate it was so good.

I think this was the 3rd course? 2 types of fish in lobster sauce. Oh gawsh, it was so good.

I actually wanted to just die after eating this 2nd course, because it was so perfect, that I didn't think the rest of my life could measure up, so lets just end on a good note! 

This was me lecturing Cameron to pose better in pictures because he would always strike the same pose...which is what I'm doing

Dutch chocolate cake. Best. Chocolate. Cake. I have ever had! I wanted to just take a bath in it, fall asleep, wake up and realize I was still in chocolate cake and think, "I'm the luckiest person in the universe right now"

Another mocking Cameron pose

Oh yeah chocolate cake

This is what they brought our check in. Adorbs. I cannot recommend Delft, or this restaurant enough. I think it was so good because the seafood was so, freaking fresh. I'm assuming some of it was probably caught right off the dutch coast. After we paid, we stayed for another 20 minutes talking to the sweet waitress who's boyfriend was from Cananda, got super excited and star struck when we told her we were from Los Angeles (yeah, we told everyone that) and said that she had been to America! To Montana and wisconsin! What? Haha, I'm American and I haven't even been there. Anywho, she was so sweet, cute and totally awesome.

We walked back through the city at like 9 or 10 pm, and all the patios and trees were lighted with white christmas lights. There were dads with their little kids walking around, and I just completely fell in love. Delft had more of a villagey feel, than a city feel. I then informed Cameron that I was in love with the city, and that we should probably move there if we ever decide to become ex-pats. He agreed. 

So seriously, Oh, my, Delft. We love you.