Delfth Porcelain Figures Dressed in Red

After my affair with Vermeer was over, we continued on through Den Haag to the Peace Palace. However, the map I was using was wildly out of scale and it took us roughly 2 hours to walk to the Peace Palace. Because I had not made an appointment for us to visit the grounds, we did not stay long, but looked outside, which was gorgeous, saw the beautiful building in which Rockefeller donated lots of money to build, and then took a trip around the World Peace flame. Hardly worth the hike, but interesting none the less. After a irritatingly slow-late lunch in Den Haag, we jumped the train for Delft.

This is the “small” little town famous for it’s hand-painted, white and blue porcelain. Though Delft is a nice place, we didn’t see too much of it. The Royal Porcelain Factory closed at 5pm, so we had roughly 30 minutes to walk there, pick some things out and leave. I personally felt like a tool for not going through the factory on a tour, but so be it. It was a beautiful place! I had my mind on getting something for my mother for her birthday. We “toured” the gift shop and found some lovely Delft tiles, a porcelain pitcher for my mother, and various other items. It was quite fun. After that we walked back to the train, amidst many rush-hour professionals making their way back to their homes for the weekend. It was Friday, after all.

Our last day ended with a not-so-big bang. It ended, like every other day in Amsterdam had. With us wandering around looking for food. We decided to take an detour on our search, and ended up with a large crowd meandering down one of the canal streets. Up ahead I saw many windows reflecting a bright red out of them. They dotted the street like fireflies, or those lamps that attracted fireflies. Except these attracted a different kind of fly…the human fly. We had found ourselves in the Red Light District at night. as we walked down the street, we came to one bright red window, and in it stood the most interesting mannequin I’d ever seen. Then it BLINKED. OOOHHHHHH, silly girl. These were the women of the red light district. Moving ever so slowly in order to emphasize their figures in their scandalous dress. As I nudged Brother Bee to get his attention, his cheeks turned the same color as the lights, and we didn’t spend much time admiring these women with interesting career choices. And what about the empty red light windows???

Never mind that. It was back to the hostel, packing, and getting ready to shove off. Bon Voyage!

Carnivals and Sex shops

Day 4? 3-25 Tuesday

Being exhausted from yesterday’s excursions, Brother bee and I slept in today. German Bee had to work, so we were on our own. I woke up about 10:30am, it felt so good to sleep in! Anja had left and Evan was still asleep, so I just hung out, checked my mail, etc. I transfered all of my pictures to my USB key, cause I figured my card on my camera was getting full. To my surprise, I had already taken 117 pictures! Watch out friends that live near me! You’re in for a treat when we get home.

Brother Bee and I decided to take a walking tour outlined in the good ol’ Lonely Planet. It started from the Hamburg Haptbahnhof (main station) and took a jog down the “walking mall” to the Rathaus or Town Hall, this is a magnificant building that looks more like a palace than a city hall. Inside, we decided to take a tour, however, I was informed by the information desk that the English tour had left 10 minutes earlier and the next one would not leave for another 2 hours. So, we took the German tour. They did offer us a guide of all the rooms described in English. That was helpful, however the guide knew full well that we didn’t speak German, and he kept looking at us strangly. Maybe it was because he kept saying funny things, and we had no idea what he was talking about. Note to self: learn the language or at least a little!

We left the Rathaus, crossed the canal and toured a little bit of Italy, as they call it. It is a row of arcades that house high-class stores with fancy jewelry and cafes. Very quaint. As we retraced our steps past the front of the Rathaus, we saw a man, acting very suspicious. From the back it looked like he was just sweeping up some sawdust on the square. Turns out, he was also wearing a pink wig and a set of plastic breasts. Interesting…a group of friends were surrounding him, so we could only believe that it was indeed a prank. Look for that picture, coming soon!

After that we traveled down past St. Nikolai memorial, which is the remains of St. Nikolai church that was bombed during WWII. Kinda strange. They have left it right where it is and how it was when the war was over. It is interesting to see that the buildings and late 20th century grew up around it. We then returned to the area we explored with German Bee a couple of days ago. Here Brother Bee and I had our first Koffee and Kuchen, which is a pastry around tea time. It was great. Then we headed over to the *free* Deutchen ZollMuseum. This is a museum about customs and immigration. It is based solely on explaining the history of Hamburg’s customs industry. Sound boring, I know!! But, when you see all the different ways that people smuggled in cigarettes, drugs, alcohol, etc., it turns out to be interesting. I had no idea that you can cut open the bottom of a chair and smuggle 15 cartons of cigs in the bottom of it. wow.

Now for the Carnival and Sex shop parts. This time of year is the time for the Hamburg Dom. It is a big carnival and fair that is held three times a year. Yes, it is just like our state fairs, with rides and crappy food all for one awful price! But, I did want to check it out, especially since Lonely Planet recommended it. We first rode the Ferris Wheel (4 Euros), then we walked around and took a look at all the Carnies. We settled on a Beer Garden for something to eat. This was our first chance to taste local food and local beer. Brother Bee had a Currywurst, and I had a Bratwurst on a baghette. We each had a different beer. It was wonderful. A delightful, carb filled dinner. We topped that off with wonderful funnel-cake type thingys.

On the way back to the train, Anja suggested we tramp (no pun intended) through the Reeperbahn or Red Light District. This is where all the interesting people hang out and where the Sex Shops are. We took a tour through one, I won’t go into any detail, but don’t worry, the USA is not missing out on anything! Hahaha. It was an experience, that and the dildo singing Aerosmith like that plastic Billy Bass that you can hang on your wall.

The end of the night came when German Bee made Brother Bee walk inbetween us because we were coming up on some women with interesting business pursuits, if you know what I mean. Tomorrow we’ll see what other educational adventures we can come up with!