charismatic megafauna since 1985

Haarlem

After going to sleep around 2000, I woke up around 0200 and couldn’t get back to sleep for a couple hours. I eventually got back to sleep around 0500 and got a couple more hours in before I woke up.

The hostel provided breakfast, although it’s a bit meager (cold cuts?, yogurt, cereal, muffin thing). I caught the bus back to Amsterdam Centraal and the train into Haarlem. It’s another old town, but much smaller than Amsterdam. I got there around 900, before anything was really open.

I wandered around for awhile until the biggest church in Haarlem, the Sint-Bavokerk, opened. It’s got a huge pipe organ (which someone was playing!) and it’s just generally attractive. Next up was the Frans Hals Museum. He was one of the Dutch Golden Age painters, and there’s also an exhibit about the history of Haarlem through the works that were painted throughout it.

I stopped to pick up lunch/dinner at one of the markets (bread, cheese, tomatoes, green peppers). My last museum there was the Corrie ten Boom house. She was a Haarlemmer who sheltered Jews and members of the resistance from the Germans. She did this by creaking a 70cm wide room behind a false wall in her bedroom.

Back in Amsterdam, I hit up one of the famous “coffeeshops”. For those of you who are unaware of this phenomenon, it’s the legal place to buy/smoke cannabis. The one I went to looked like the sketchiest dorm room I’d ever been in, and about as big. The stuff was pretty good, though, and I’ve still got a bit more to use before I leave.

Tomorrow’s my last day in Amsterdam. I need to check to make sure, but I think my train to Copenhagen is around 1900 so I’ve got the whole day to do stuff. I’m thinking science museum, Anne Frank Museum, one of the sex musuems and relaxing at another coffeshop. I felt more comfortable travelling today than I did yesterday so I think tomorrow will be even better.