A Trip To Haarlem

On Friday we took a trip to Haarlem which is about an hour bike ride West of Amsterdam. It was such a beautiful ride! The meadows, smaller canals, and forests were so lush and alive. We also went through some farmlands with horses, cows, sheep, chickens and ponies. Yes, really. Many ponies. Does anyone know if this is something particularly Dutch? (You should be able to leave a comment as a guest on this blog, but I'm not entirely sure.)





























































Once we got in to Haarlem we walked around the old part of the town for a bit before sitting down for a small bite and some water. It is very difficult to stay hydrated here! You always have to ask and also pay for water.






























Afterwords we went in to the church in the main, old square. It is called St. Bavo's Church and it was absolutely astonishing. The present church was built in 1520 (the original, built sometime before 653, burned down in a fire). The floor consisted of gravestones and there was a very grand, beautiful organ called the Christian Müller organ that has 5068 pipes and is 30m (~98 ft.) high! Both Mozart and Handel have played on it. You weren't allowed to take pictures so I pulled the one of the organ from the internet.











We then walked around the city of Haarlem's downtown area which is actually very big. The majority of the downtown is a pedestrian/bike area, and on some streets, cars are allowed as guests. Very funny/cool.