Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Touring Amsterdam Part 2

Today I am sharing photos of the Amsterdam flower market and the Delft workshop that we visited as well as a few other shots.

flower market 1

flower market 2

All of the flowers were very beautiful and were fairly reasonably priced.

flower market 3

This shop had all bulbs but they were not certified to bring into the US so I couldn’t buy any.

flower market 4

flower market 5

flower market 6

While we were in the shop pictured above, the shopkeeper came over and rolled back this rack to reveal a hidden stairway to go downstairs.

flower market 7

flower market 8

Those bouquets were spectacular.

flower market- view of back side

The photo above shows the back side of the flower market on the right side of the canal. It stretches down the entire city block.

Delftware painter

We didn’t have time to visit the Delftware region but we did visit a Delftware shop. The lady above is hand painting Delftware. She gave me permission to take her photo. The little houses on the right end of the table have just been painted with an underglaze which will turn blue when fired.

Delftware door ornament

I especially liked the little piece of Delftware on this door where you would push on the door. I’m not sure what that would be called but it was very pretty.

Delftware tulipiere 1

There were many beautiful tulipieres in this shop.

Delftware tulipiere 2

Delftware tulipiere 3

Some of them were almost as tall as we were. All of them were quite pricey. Even a small one was 249 Euros.

Delftware tulipiere 4

Careful examination of that little price sticker above reveals a price of 3250 Euros!!! That is about 4485 dollars! Maybe next time!

 Delftware tulipiere 5

Here are a few other random shots.

cheese shop

Diamond Factory

ship shop

Before we went on the trip we did lots of research. We compiled all of our hotel reservations and notes into a notebook. After our first day in Amsterdam I checked the notes when we retired to our room. I discovered that the Royale Palace was right down the street. We didn’t realize it, but we had passed by it several times.  This seemed strange to me. The next day we sat out to find it.

Royale Palace

That is the Royale Palace! It doesn’t look very royal. In fact it was quite dirty with trash on the square in front. It needs a good pressure washing. No landscape. No guards. Nothing like our White House. Fast forward 24 hours.

Royal Palace 3

When we passed by the next morning, the square had been cleaned and a temporary fence had been installed and guards were actually out front. A few planters had also been placed outside. By evening it looked beautiful.

Royal Palace 4

Royale Palace 6

According to the royal calendar, the King and Queen of Sweden were visiting. Apparently our invitation got lost in the mail but we did enjoy watching from the sidelines.

royale palace bell tower 2

The top of the palace was quite distinctive.

royale palace 9

top of the palace

I hope you have enjoyed the tour. I have one more post on Amsterdam before moving on.

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If you missed part one of Amsterdam you can see it by clicking here. You can read about our visit to Keukenhof Gardens by clicking here and our bike ride around the flower fields by clicking here. You can also see the video that my daughter made by clicking here.

5 comments:

Shenita @ Embellishments by SLR said...

Pat, your photos from Amsterdam are gorgeous; and the flowers at the market are just stunning! I am sure you had a wonderful time!

My Cozy Corner said...

Hi Pat,
Thanks for visiting My Cozy Corner. I love to travel and enjoyed every photo about Amsterdam. I also loved the beautiful flower market. The market was fabulous. Thanks for sharing.
Betty from My Cozy Corner.

Vel Criste said...

I swear, if I don't live someday close to the sea I'd live below flowershops! Gorgeous! Did you bring home any Delfware? they are gorgeous but bringing them home would be an ordeal I imagine. Yup, royal palace seemed drab, for sure the inside make up for it. Thanks for the tour!

Richella Parham said...

Okay, Pat, I just spent WAY too much time perusing your blog! First I realized that I'd never seen the posts about your summer cottage. What a wonderful job you've done on that house! Then I started reading your posts about Amsterdam. We love to travel--have never been to the Netherlands, though. We're so excited because this summer we're taking a trip we've dreamed about for a long time--we're going to Normandy! We're all history buffs, so we're giddy with anticipation.

Hope you have a great week. My week is literally jam-packed, but I've surely enjoyed a break here reading lots of your posts! :)

P.S. Where do you live? I'm guessing you're in North Carolina. I live in Durham.

Jane@Cottage at the Crossroads said...

Oh my gosh Pat! I have been catching up with you by reading all your posts about your trip to the Netherlands. I loved seeing every photo and I can imagine how incredibly beautiful those flower fields were in person! So glad I got to see that country through your eyes!