Thursday, June 7, 2012

Flash Mob--Haarlem!







Tonight was Haarlem Shopping Night 2012...Most of the stores in town are open till midnight!


As we were talking around earlier we saw Tango dancing going on at a dance floor set up in the "Grote Markt"!






It was raining off and on while we were shopping.......our reward?!?!  A rainbow!




A cute little "kiosk"!

Tea anyone?!?!?


Tomorrow......off to Delft I go!  Then, having some neighbors over for drinks in the evening....

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Getting Settled!

Well, here I am.....HOME!  Who ever would have thought HOME would be in Europe!

My luggage was delivered Sunday at around 1800hrs., I finished unpacking it all last night. Today I've been cleaning and putting things away. Because it's a tad bit warmer than winter (!) the dog and the cat are both shedding like crazy!  Thank goodness we had bought a Dyson vacuum cleaner....

Last night we had a problem with the washer/dryer. It stopped mid-cycle and there was an error message on the front panel. When I looked it up in the owner's manual it said to empty the filter. Months ago I had asked the owner about the filter, and she said she didn't know where it was and never had to worry about emptying it.....Soooooo, Andrew and I found the filter.....which is the round thingie close to the floor on the machine....and started opening it to clean it out when water started gusssshhhhing out of it! There is no way to clean it and not get water everywhere.....Andrew quick got the mop and we were able to sop it up....but what a mess!  I cleaned out the filter and  ran another cycle through and now it works fine.



Saturday I took a picture of "my tree"!  I think this tree is so pretty any time of the year....here it is in spring:


As we were walking by the V&D (pronounced Vay and Day here) store (it's kind of like a J.C.Penney) Andrew told me the story about the little store right in the middle of their building.  Apparently when whoever owned the V&D store at the time built the building, the owner of the little market there refused to sell....sooooo they just built their building right around his store! Quite often, the year the building was built is inscribed right on the building. This little market was built in 1849!



As we were heading back home, I took this picture of the Grote Markt (large market) in Haarlem, which is in the center of town.


Sunday morning we went downtown to have lunch at a little cafe we like (the Doria Cafe)...the weather was very pleasant, so we were able to sit outside and soak in some sun!





After lunch we took a walk along the canals.  There are drawbridges on the main canal and we were able to see a boat go through them. The woman who operates the bridge(s) goes back and forth from one bridge to the next on her bicycle while the boat waits for her to open and close the bridges for them!











Duck's nest on the back of a little boat in the canal!



Is this the "real" bag lady?!?!?!

Andrew and I took Sammy for a walk Sunday afternoon. We've seen this building a few times before, but never took the time to find out what it is......Turns out it a "Home for the Aged"...opened in May 1930.





Sammy loves walking in the woods!!!


When we got back from our walk we sat and watched the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant on t.v. What a beautiful sight!  Here are a few pictures I found with Google!







Well, it's time to get a move on. Have to go downtown to do my every other day grocery shopping!  The fridge is so small it only holds a couple of days worth of groceries......Forces me to go out, I guess!
LOL!