River Cruise 2015 - Volendam and Hoorn

After spending the night in Volendam, we had free time there the next morning - a great place to shop!  Unfortunately, it rained a lot of the time, so I left my camera on the ship.  I did manage to get out for a while late in the morning with the camera.

On Jeremy Van Dyke's advice, I walked down this street and looked at the front doors of the houses - I'm so glad I did!  The doors were all very different, lovely, and interesting! 

Although I resisted the urge to take pictures of the doors, I did take a picture of the front window of this place - couldn't help it!  All the houses also had such pretty things in their front windows. 

The blossoms were so pretty as well. 

As we ate lunch on the DaVinci, we sailed to the city of Hoorn, a very interesting place that acquired city rights in 1357.  This is a defense tower that dates from 1531, and controlled the shiplane to Hoorn.  It's now a restaurant. 

Across the main street from the harbour is a row of buildings that appear to be tilting forward. 

I love the story of these 3 boys, "The Shipboys of Bontekoe".  Apparently 2 boys signed on to sail on a ship in the harbour with skipper Bontekoe, but a friend came aboard with them, fell asleep, and awoke when the ship was at sea.  They stayed on the ship from 1618 to 1620, sailing as far as Indonesia, and having many adventures, such as mutiny, explosion, piracy, and stranding on an island. In 1646, a book was written from the captain's journal, and became a best seller.

On the main street is a house with this decoration on it.  It was the home of a sea captain named Captain Spotted Cow. 

A beautiful bird, which I believe is a kind of merganser. 

Some of our group opted for a boat tour of the city instead of a walking tour, and our paths crossed at a bridge. 

This little coot built her nest on a bit of something that floats. 

Her mate is bringing something to add to the nest. 

The steep roofs on the houses go down to a wide eave trough, which in turn goes into a pipe, leading into the house to a cistern for use by the family - good use of rain water! 

A narrow street with a lovely view. 

This building dates to 1632, and has had several uses, but now is a museum of regional history. 

The "Red Stone Square" seems to be the main square in the city.  It seems that this is where public executions took place. 

Jan Pietersz Coen, 1587-1629, dominates the Red Stone Square, and in Netherlands, has long been hailed as a hero.  But in Indonesia, where he was sent to be the Prime Minister, he was considered a scoundrel. 

An interesting way to move your equipment around! 

 



In 1539, this building was built as a guesthouse/hospital, but has had many different uses since then. 

Unless you have seen one of these, you would probably never be able to guess what it is.  It is a four-sided urinal - yes, right on the side of the street! - for use by men.  Interesting..... but I never saw any of our group taking advantage of it. 

This strange-looking house looks at first glance as though it is tipping forward, but if you check out the chimney, it's pretty straight up.  Apparently, when you built a house, you were charged for the size of the floor space on the ground, so they would slant them out to get more space up top.  Well that's the story anyway. 

You've heard of the "Flying Dutchman", right? 

A swan and a seagull fighting over a scrap of bread someone threw to them. 

Yep, I even chase bees in Holland! 

A statue of Jesus pointing up - "one way"? 

Working on the rigging. 

This boatload of young people were apparently learning to sail. 

Such a beautiful harbour town!

....until next time.....