Billy Beer

When we arrived in Delft we look around for a restaurant. We ended up finding the "Cow Square" for the first time. It was totally empty under the drizzle and most restaurants were closed. One in particular called my attention. it said: Billy Beer. That is it, I thought. A restaurant with beer in its name. Well, it happens that beer in Dutch means bear. So, the restaurant's name is Billy Bear. Indeed, there are lots of teddy bears inside, and kids like it.

We entered and it was full, we even had difficulty in finding a place to sit. We enjoyed a very large schnitzel and this restaurant became one of our favourites. (We later learned that it is a "student's" restaurant, very popular for its spare ribs. Well, I preferred the schnitzel.)

It was then, that our last meal in Delft was at the Billy Beer (Bear): schnitzel and potatoes.

The big game I did not watch

When I booked my trip in February I could never imagine that my return flight was going to be exactly during the big soccer match between Netherlands and Brazil. I arrived in Montreal one hour after the end of the game. I wish I was in Netherlands until the end of the World Cup. Whoever wins this match should win the whole competion, I thought. And Holland won.

Hup Holland Hup!

The picture invites Locus Publicus customers to watch the game there. I missed that too.

Dutch Scenes: movable bridges II

To complement a previous post, more movable bridges, both in Delft. The first is the Reineveldbrug bridge.

The other movable bridges shown in a movie is the swing Oostpoortbrug bridge. You can see in operation in a sunny Summer Wednesday here.

Farewell, Delft

When we arrived in Delft in April it was very cold and rainy. So cold that I started to be concerned that my decision of not taking with us any Winter coat was a mistake. Luckily, the fleece coats we wore ended up enough. Our early pictures of Delft have a predominantly overcast sky. It was interesting that every place we visited was warmer, but in Delft it was always chilly with an unstoppable wind. In the last weeks

though Summer seems to have arrived at last.

As our trip back to Canada is just two days away I biked around to take my last pictures of Delft with a blue sky as the background.

The first four pictures show Delft's main square, the Markt, except the New Church (Nieuwe Kerk) which was shown in other post. The first picture shows the Stadhuis, the Town Hall, that serves as a kind of civic center where, for example, marriages are celebrated. The other pictures show other sides of the the Markt, respectively, South, South (with the Church Maria van Jessekerke on the background) and North.

The last picture shows the old towers of the Eastern Gate (Oostpoort), built in 1867.

We had a wonderful time in Delft and we will miss it.

French teacher

(Photo removed)

Thales was home schooled during our time in Delft. Math and science Denise can cope. As for French, he had private French lessons with madame Nadia. It was interesting because she emphasized grammar and it gave a new perspective to him.

Dutch Scenes: train and tram

Public transportation in Holland is composed of trains, trams and buses. I think that trains and trams are the most popular of them. They work in an interconnected way and can take you almost everywhere. They are totally reliable except when they brake down. One exemple was when we had to go to Schipol station, located right at the airport, to take a plane to Munich. The train ahead of us broke down and blocked the track. This fact delayed our trip in 2 hours and we missed the plane.

The first picture shows a train in Delft station. The second picture shows a tram at Amsterdam Central station.

Germans celebrate soccer win

We left our hotel towards Munich's airport at the same time Germany was playing an elimination match against England. The S-Ban was nearly deserted as most Germans were in front of TV sets at home or in large groups in front of big screens located all around Munich. I think the only passengers were tourists heading to the airport. When we arrived at the airport, we passed through a big food plaza in the Mall located by the airport. A huge celebration was going on in a large but separate area by a big screen: Germany had just beaten England 4 to 1.