Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - Amsterdam, Haarlem, and Den Haag, The Netherlands - Day 6

We had our coffee and breakfast in the Club Lounge at the hotel and then headed to Central Station.  We purchased round trip tickets to Haarlem, which is due west of Amsterdam on the sea.  Hans and Adri had highly recommended that we visit Haarlem instead of Delft.

The train ride was only 15 minutes.  We walked through the quaint town of Haarlem to the large kerk (church) - the Great Church of St Bavo's.  The church was built in the 1300's and was beautiful.  The floor of the church is lined with gravestones.  The organ was magnificent and completely covered the front wall of the church.

 The Great Church of St. Bavo - Haarlem, The Netherlands

 The magnificent organ built in 1735
 

 Many of the gravestones on the floor of the church

We then walked around the town and the pedestrian street with lots of shops.  A clean and well maintained city.  We walked over to one of the canals and found a typical windmill.  We decided to have lunch in the large square outside of St. Bavo's and enjoyed a great sandwich served by cute waiters!

 Typical canal scene in Haarlem

Windmill on the river in Haarlem
 



We walked around a little more and headed back to the train station and bought round trip tickets to Den Haag, of The Hague.  It was a 45 minute train ride to Den Haag.  The city was busy with business people and politicians.  A high-rise, mostly new city.  We found a pedestrian street and strolled around.  We stopped for ice cream and then Tim found a sporting goods store where he bought small binoculars for our trip to Africa.

We roamed around and found the Royal Palace which was beautiful and had a great inner courtyard.  The National Portrait Gallery was closely as well.

 Statue outside the Royal Palace in Den Haag
 

 Lake with fountain outside the Royal Palace in Den Haag
 

 Beautiful church and fountain in the inner courtyard of the Royal Palace
 

The National Portrait Gallery in Den Haag
 



We found our way back to the train station and road back to Haarlem, got off the train and validated our train ticket to Amsterdam, arriving back about 5:30.

Tim waiting for the train to Amsterdam in Haarlem

 



We went to the hotel and freshened up.  A quick visit to the Club Lounge for a glass of wine and then I bought 2 tram tickets from the concierge.  We walked to the "24" line and took the tram for the short trip south to the neighborhood where our restaurant is.  There was an inspector on the tram and he checked our tickets - fortunately we had "checked in" properly on the tram but he found a woman with no ticket and took her off to give her a ticket.

We had dinner reservations at Zaza's.  A great nouvelle Dutch restaurant.  It was delicious and we had a great meal.

We took the tram back to Central Station and walked through the city, and back through the red light district.  Not as busy as on the weekend but still the streets were packed.

 It was a busy night in the red light district!  Every night!
 

The "girls" standing in the window showing off their "wares"!

 



We made our way back to the hotel and retired for the night.  We discussed going to Brussels tomorrow but Tim checked the train schedules and we decided to stay in Amsterdam instead.  Perhaps a canal cruise, a visit to the Hermitage Museum and maybe the "Heineken Experience".  We'll see what the last day in Amsterdam brings.