Project Amsterdam: Haarlem Netherlands

Public transportation is very efficient here (except on snow days as I found out yesterday!) which makes it easy to just jump on a train and head to a small town not far from Amsterdam. One Saturday, Keith & I went to Haarlem which is about 20 minutes west of Amsterdam by train. It's a quaint village (suburb???) with a nice outdoor market, less expensive shopping, museums, another huge beautiful church and mostly local people. We wondered around the market where you can find everything from cheese, fish, salami, nuts, olives, flowers, clothing, purses, fries with mayo, trinkets, to fresh bread. We found a tiny little spot to get a sandwich, which is the standard for lunch. In one of the pictures you will see a McDonalds in an old building. That's about the only US franchise you see over here. Starbucks is located at the airport, but that's it. We went to the Fran Hals museum. I liked the display of the Delft pottery, which is made in Delft (go figure!) not far from Haarlem. We also went into the big church where they were having a used book sale. The church floor is made of tomb stones, so the church essentially sits on top of a grave yard. Those with status were buried 'IN' the church, literally. I was amazed by the pipe organ. Here are a few pics from our day in Haarlem.