10 September 2015 - A day in Hoorn, an old harbour town in Westfriesland

The morning started with a bike ride with Tim to Plus again to buy things for his science experiments such as vinegar and baking soda.  Whilst I did find the ingredients, it would have been easier in UK!  It was also nice just to have some Tim time on a lovely sunny morning.  Tim chose to stay home to do school in the quiet house while the rest of us took off for the day.

 

Treated like royalty at the Rabobank

There were two reasons to go to Hoorn in Westfriesland (that is pronounced "Frees" rather than "Fries" - as in chips).  Firstly, Karl had to close his Dutch Rabobank account from 30 years ago which was now in Euros not Gilders but was still valid and he did eventually get the money owed.  What's more, banks in Holland are really posh!!  I was offered a cup of proper coffee and we were sat down at a comfortable table but could have sat in a lounge area.

Hunter-gatherers eating wild rose hips!

Most supermarkets have these fresh orange juice  machines

As we had found a free car park by the bank we left the car there and walked into the historic part of Hoorn with many buildings from 17th century.

The fabulous pedal/electric car was smaller than a small motor scooter!  we called it "The Flea" as it is much smaller than a Beetle!

 As a cyclist (mmm in Holland mmm), I do feel nervous when "car like bikes" or "bike like cars" tootling past me on the bike track.  Sometimes we see these amazing vehicles on the roads but they look so fragile next to a truck and would offer no protection in a bingle.  We reckon there should be additional lanes for these vehicles!  The Dutch are very accommodating and have bike paths and often separate pedestrian paths, so one more path wouldn't go astray!

"Steun" - Support or prop

Town Square , Hoorn

  Westfries Museum was an excellent choice for a "bit of culture" and also where we bought our museum cards which are valid for over 400 of Holland's museums (for a year!) so we reckon we'll get our money's worth!  The museum itself is housed in a beautiful old building, the Statencollege (1632) and the exhibitions set up as the old house would have been.  Luke was fascinated by a room of curios which included a dolphin fetus and what looked like two human fetuses - may be stillborn premature babies, as well as a human arm!!  A place to give you nightmares!  Those, and all the taxidermed animals: crocodiles, puffer fish, snakes, etc. really made it a cabinet of curiosities.

A dodo outside the Westfries Museum

A narwahl's tusk!

A fake sea monster made by sailors and stuffed!   No wonder people thought the platypus was a fake!

Costume of the time

17 th century cabinet with crockery of the day.

Hoorn street, complete with a few bikes.

Westfries Museum

The Pan Family - from Hoorn.  From what we could gather, most of the babies were still born, possibly twins or triplets, only ones with their eyes open were born alive.  The little child pointing upwards was probably also dead..  What sad times they were.

An unrealistically proportioned portrait!

So solemn - no details of painter

I presume his solemn wife! 1620

Plain but lovely, so different from the English aristocracy and their style of decor.

Inlaid oak writing desk from a local family - it had secret compartments and plenty of genuine ink stains!

Local wealthy men painted by son of the harbourmaster who married a wealthy girl and ended up painting portraits for the wealthy of Hoorn! Connections again!!  It always pays to marry an heiress!

All I can say is that the painter was patient and the kids must have been good!

Very detailed sailing ship models

View of the Town Square from the Westfries Museum window.

  The garden was lovely and peaceful.   We sat there whilst we waited for 10 minutes or so for our sitting in the 3D room! The highlight was the 3D experience with amazing Virtual Reality goggles and headphones to give a really excellent presentation of "The Golden Age" when the Dutch formed the East India Company and went exploring and exploiting!  Cape Horn was named after this town!

Garden at the Westfries Museum

Unicorn - it is also on the Hoorn Coat of Arms

Beautiful little walled garden

 We had a lovely wander through the town down to the harbour, after the museum.  The sun was out and so were all the Dutch and tourists, enjoying the late afternoon sun in the cafes.  It was definitely an ice cream day and we found some for 1 euro each and thoroughly enjoyed them.  In another life time, I'll sit in an outdoor cafe on the harbourside enjoying a relaxed cuppa but for today, an ice cream was a lovely treat.

Swans and their seven cygnets

Standing on the Appelbrug

The Harbour

Hoorn in 17 th Century was the base for the Dutch East India Company and was very prosperous and exotic spices were sold at high prices. The old houses and buildings around the harbour are beautiful.  Many of the buildings are built from quite tiny red bricks which make the  buildings look so well designed and are sort of dainty looking compared to the chunks of grey granite stone used in the Aberdeenshire architecture.

Hoorn was formerly on the Zuiderzee but in 1932 when the Afsluitdijk (Great Enclosing Dyke) was finished, Hoorn was no longer a sea port.

Check out the tiny brick work

And there's the unicorn again at the harbour

Seagulls on duty!

Very lovely - some artists were painting this exact scene.

Willem Boniekop of Hoorn 1587-1657

Some more modern statues

Harbour view

 We walked back along the quiet main street/ mall remarking that the tourist season is probably nearly over.  Most of Old Hoorn is tourist dependent  but the newer part of Hoorn was built to encourage people to move out of Amsterdam and into bigger houses with gardens so Hoorn is a largish town. With the new development there are schools, huge shopping centres, and of course, our friendly bank!

Noerderkerk 1572

Noerderkerk - foundations slipping a bit!

Luke with the boys!

We seemed to avoid the peak hour traffic heading towards Amsterdam.  Those heading in the other direction weren't as lucky! It is hard to believe that we've have been here for a week!

Dusk from the kitchen table