Europe, Post 5: Kerstmis in Nederland

I'm continuing this from our B&B in Wilhelmshaven, Germany – a totally gorgeous place where we have not only a double room, but a loungeroom, kitchen and bathroom as well – our own little unit! We didn't know what it would be like because it was organised by another B&B that we tried to book but that did not have availability – so we're very lucky indeed that it is so adorable! The owner could not speak much English, so we had a lot of fun trying out our German for real when we checked in! We'll go out for tea soon, but in the meantime I'll finish telling you about Christmas Eve after we arrived in Delft...

It was 5pm on Christmas Eve when we arrived at our very unique accommodation in the town of Delft in the Netherlands: The Soul Inn! This place was 70s-themed throughout. Our room, the “Lotus Room”, was, in a word, pink! Giant pink lotus-patterned wallpaper from floor to ceiling, flowered bedspread, pink drinking glasses, multi-coloured flower-shaped light shade, small pink plastic Christmas tree...!!! A very different and fun place to stay!

Ben got talking to an American guy, also called Ben, who was staying at the Soul Inn, and he told us that there was a Christmas Eve service at the New Church (Nieuwe Kerk) in town at 10pm that night. Having never been to anything like that, and not having anything else to do on Christmas Eve, we decided to go along! However, we had a few hours to fill in first...

We drove into town and found a place to park, then set off on foot to explore beautiful Delft. From what we saw that night, it was absolutely gorgeous and picturesque! There were quiet little canals with a few ducks and canal boats here and there, and narrow paved streets with strings of golden Christmas lights glittering overhead. The buildings were charming and old, as they have been nearly everywhere, and the streets were quiet and peaceful. There were Christmas trees lit up in most of the houses.

We wandered along the streets and over little arched bridges crossing the canals, looking for a restaurant that was open and looked like a nice place to have tea. After quite a bit of wandering, we found a quaint restaurant that had a menu outside with a nice-looking selection of dishes. Although it was written in Dutch, our basic knowledge of German helped us understand what some of it meant, so we decided to go inside.

Once inside, however, we learnt from the combined English-speaking abilities of the young staff, who were dressed in Santa hats, that there was only one dish on offer that night! We think it was raising money for a foundation. They described it as “cabbage and smashed potato with a sausage on top”, so we figured we would give it a try, and sat down in the candlelit restaurant to await our traditional meal. There were only a few other tables of diners, and Christmas carols played in the background.

When our meal arrived, we found it quite delicious, and the attentive staff were pleased to learn that we enjoyed it! After our delightful and different Christmas Eve dinner, we set back out into the cold night to await 10pm.

Arriving at the town square, on one side of which was the tall New Church, we found a Christmas tree lit up in the centre, and a six-piece brass ensemble playing Christmas carols from the balcony of the church. It was lovely to sit and listen to the trumpet harmonies filling the crisp night air as more people arrived in the square for the service.

Click here for Joy To The World.

Inside, we found an orchestra in the centre of the church, playing Christmas carols and hymns. The church was very large and I think there would have been six or eight hundred people there – obviously quite the place to be on Christmas Eve in Delft!

During the service, a choir with over a hundred members sang – male and female voices in beautiful harmony. They sang Christmas carols and hymns, all in Dutch of course, but many of them were ones we know, such as Silent Night and Joy To The World. The choir sang to a very large pipe organ, which was up the top at the back of the church and sounded amazing. We had little booklets with the Dutch lyrics printed in them, so were even able to sing along to the verses we were allowed to join in... Some verses were just the choir, some were just the women, and some were just the men.

We were able to understand the service because there was an English-speaking section where we could plug headphones in and listen to a live English translation. The seats were heated there, which made us very warm in our big coats and sent Ben to sleep!!! But it was an interesting experience, and we enjoyed the music. Everything finished up a bit after 11pm, and after a bit more wandering, we found our car and headed back to the Inn.



...Now continuing this from our gorgeous hotel room in Moelln, Germany. Hope to post entries 4 and 5 at an Internet cafe today, so may have to add photos in later...

We woke up on Christmas Day at the lovely hour of 10am. After a continental breakfast in the dining room (breads, jams, ham, cheese, boiled eggs, juice, coffee etc), we went back to our room and spent a couple of hours talking to my family on Skype. We called Ben's family later that night, so it was lovely to be able to talk to them all at Christmas even though we are away from home on the other side of the world. We definitely made good use of the free WiFi at the Soul Inn!!

In the afternoon, we spontaneously decided to drive to Amsterdam, about 45 minutes away. Driving through the Dutch countryside on a very large highway, we did see occasional traditional Dutch windmills, but far more common were the massive modern wind generators – sometimes we could see more than 10 at once! This is also true of Germany, where we've been since we left the Netherlands.

In Amsterdam, we left our car in a parking complex next to a large grassy park near the Museum square. This is where Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum, Rijksmuseum, and one or two other large museums are. In the square near the museums was an ice skating rink, which was obviously quite a popular Christmas afternoon activity as it was quite crowded! In a large marquee beside the rink, we ate some mini pancakes smothered in butter and icing sugar, and then watched the ice skaters for a little while.



Afterwards, we looked through a gift shop near the skating rink, and then wandered down the street to the Rijksmuseum. This is an enormous art museum housing original works by the likes of Rembrandt, Vermeer, and other famous Dutch artists.

We enjoyed some free hot chocolate that was being given out in the museum garden, and then decided to have a look through the museum. Much of it was closed for renovations, but the parts we saw were still very impressive! As well as lots of paintings, there were also sculptures, pottery, silverware, Asian artefacts brought back by Dutch explorers and traders, weapons, and a very large model ship. There were also some enormous dolls houses that had belonged to very rich ladies and cost as much as “a moderate home on the waterfront”... each tiny item of furniture was constructed from the same materials as the real object and made exactly to scale!!! I'm not usually into art galleries, but I did quite enjoy this one!



After we finished up in a hurry when the museum closed at 5pm, we walked further into the shopping and restaurant district to find somewhere for tea. We chose a nice restaurant called Toom, where we enjoyed a Christmas dinner of chicken in paprika sauce, beef in mushroom and red wine sauce, veggies, and the “grand dessert” which had samples of a few different cakes. It was very delicious, and one of the only downsides we've yet discovered about this appealing European lifestyle is that people are still allowed to smoke in most restaurants!

Suitably fed up and content, we walked back to the car and discovered that we had chosen the most expensive place to park to date – 17.50 EUR (AUD $28?) for just over 4 hours!!!

We then got Tommy to direct us to Amsterdam's city centre. There we found a little tourist strip with souvenir shops etc, so we parked beside a canal and set out on foot. Now, Amsterdam is famous for two things: legal drugs and its red light district. So, before we even found a park, someone standing on a street corner had, via a gesture, offered Ben drugs through the car window, and I'm pretty sure someone we passed on foot later made a similar verbal offer!!

The shops lining the street were also full of souvenirs from both industries. Some shops had signs over their entrance that said “no entry under 18 years old” and “no hard drugs inside”! Despite all this, we felt quite safe and there were families and older tourists there as well as those who couldn't walk in a straight line! Anyway, we had lots of fun window shopping, bought a few souvenirs as gifts for people (ones that fell outside of the aforementioned categories though!), enjoyed some hot chips with mayo, and then set off back to Delft.

And that was our very unique Christmas!