On Saturday, we had wanted to go inside the Great Church, but we were a bit too late as it closed at 5PM. A sign on the church said that there was a service at 10AM on Sunday, so we had decided that we'd just attend the service and see the inside while we were there. We were up and ready and so walked through a light rain around the building as the entrance is on the other side from our hotel. We were there with a couple of other people outside, but the church was locked up and dark. We waited about 20 minutes and then gave it up and went for another walk on some of the other streets in the area. It was a bit cool (low 50's), but we soon found a little café where we got hot coffee and tea and a croissant for breakfast. The name of the café was Wolker's!

After we left the café, we continued our exploring. The buildings are (of course) old and are very interesting. There are a variety of "tops" to the buildings, the photo below shows a couple.

When we got back to the market area, it was a large empty spot except for some chairs and tables at one end and a food van selling herring. We got a small tray of the raw fish with pickles and onion. To be fair, Janice actually did eat a piece. But it was very quickly and followed immediately by two of the pickle chips! It was good (says Dean) but I think I like canned sardines better. Maybe it's the salt . . .

All of her friends and family know that Janice loves shoes. I think she liked them, but our suitcases were full on the way here, we just couldn't take one more pair back with us.

After we met the other 26 people on our tour, and our tour guide Jesse Blackwood, we went to an Indonesian restaurant for dinner. Very good food!

After the meal, we did a walking tour of Haarlem with a local guide named Ruby. She grew up in Haarlem and now lives in nearby Amsterdam. We learned much about life in Holland, about taxes (at least 36% income tax), health care, attitudes about canibus and prostitution, and other things. In the photo below, Ruby is in the center of the image, and Jesse is to the right.

We've met some really nice people in our group and have seen a lot of very interesting sites. Our wi-fi here at the hotel has been really good (according to our guide), but it has taken a lot of time and attempts to get these pictures and text posted. And we've been told it does not get better as we go further into our trip. I'd like to get posts done on the evening of the day we are documenting, but this may be difficult to do in these next days, but we'll do our best.

A cool and rainy day in Haarlem on Sunday the 13th