360-degree photos are in Flickr.com (taken with my LG 360).
Dutch Uber
I checked out of the Airbnb yesterday because of a bad smell in the room. My host was gracious enough to refund me the amount for the second night, regardless of the cancellation policy.
I used hotels.com to book a night at Best Western near the airport. And I summoned Uber for a ride there. I was standing at the bus stop on an island between two streets and watching his progress. When the app showed him being there, I realized he was in the small street behind me, expecting me to come out of one of the homes. He glanced at my direction and I waved like crazy.
There were large flower bushes between us so I went to the other end of the bus stop shelter where I saw an opening with the same red brick pavement as the bike lane. He also saw it, and, as I got there, he was driving his car into the sidewalk and through it.
I laughed and asked if that was allowed. He joked that that lane was specifically intended for taxis only.
The driver was a very friendly (and handsome) Dutchman, who had been driving with Uber for two years. It turns out that Uber drivers were regulated the same as taxi drivers. The only difference is that Uber is cheaper.
He asked if I always traveled alone, so we talked about the joys of traveling alone, which he also preferred. But he had not been outside Europe. And he hates airplanes because he's Dutch and Dutch people are tall, so, with the tight spaces in planes, long flights are very uncomfortable for him. So we talked about the benefits of having short legs. ;)
I couldn't check in yet, but the hotel didn't mind storing my luggage for me. And they had a free shuttle (a big orange bus) to Schiphol Plaza, which is the entrance to both the train station and the airport. So I saved €10 or more for the round-trip bus.
Jan's incarnation's town
During my MBA program, I realized that one of my closest friends Jan Marek looked a lot like the painter Jan Vermeer. See?
By Johannes Vermeer - The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH., Public Domain, Link
Yesterday, I visited Delft, Vermeer's hometown. As Rick Steves recommended in his book, I took the #40 bus from the train station to the Royal Delftware Manufactory. The bus drivers didn't know where it was, but when I pointed at it on the map, they knew which way to direct me. (Google Maps wouldn't give directions if you're offline and T-Mobile failed me again.)
The people working at the reception and the cafe of the factory were awesomely friendly. The young man who sold me the entrance ticket even waited for me to finish my tea before starting the video, which starts the tour.
The video had two parts, and the second part, which illustrated the process, was more interesting. The room had sample "biscuits" on trays and ovens with doors that opened and closed at the right times in conjunction with the video.
Workers spraying the biscuits.
I love ceramics and the different ways to decorate them, so I found a lot of inspiration. It wasn't all blue on white which Delft is known for. The factory also tried green on white, multicolored ones, and Delft noir. Although I love the traditional and more common Delft blue, the Delft noir is definitely a close second.
My favorite items on display, however, were the recreations of famous paintings of Dutch masters. And I had seen the originals just a few days ago! The recreations were monochromatic blue on white tiles.
The factory itself is smaller than I expected. There were products in different stages of work but there weren't many of each type/shape.
I stayed for lunch and had a tuna sandwich, which came with a salad. While enjoying my meal, I saw from the overhead display that there was a hop-on-hop-off shuttle that you could take to go to the other tourist sites and even the train station.
The same young man who sold me my entrance ticket also sold me a ticket for the shuttle. And there was one waiting right outside!
The shuttle is about the size of a big golf cart, that could seat about 6 people with the driver on the motorbike in front. It goes on the same lanes as the bicycles, and is very bouncy, so I highly recommend the seatbelts.
The driver showed me where to catch the shuttle again (a large blue glass heart sculpture) and where to go for the Vermeer museum and the old church. Then he dropped me off at the new church.
After all the churches I've seen, I still took a lot of pictures. Maybe one day I'll publish a photo book on cathedrals and churches, which might be kinda odd from someone who isn't religious. :)
The Vermeer museum had no originals, but it was nice to visit anyway, although a bit expensive. Like the Royal Delft, this too is inspirational to me.
Rick Steves said that there wasn't much in the old church but I still found some interesting details.
I didn't have enough time to go to the Prinsenhof Museum because the shuttle driver said that the last run is around 16:30 and it was already 16:00, so I walked back to the blue heart.
It turns out that I could use the QR code at the back of my Eurail Pass to get through the gates at the Delft train station. (So I didn't have to sneak out behind someone when I arrived at Delft in the morning. Shhh.)
Back at Schiphol Plaza, I bought a salad for dinner and croissants for breakfast, a bottle of water, and a couple more chocolate bars, which the cashier smiled about.
Then I waited for the big orange bus, checked into the hotel, and reclaimed my bags.
Switching my lodgings was a good decision. I was more comfortable and I slept better, although I woke up every hour or two after midnight, but that's related to not being able to sleep before a trip.
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