Witweg: Haarlem revisited

January 2nd 2014

When I have visitors, I try to show them the towns, museums, and places which I enjoy, hoping that they will too. Today it was Haarlem. As usual in this perpetual and never ending autumn it poured. But if we wait in this country till the rain stops, we will never get anywhere. So Haarlem it was.

Our first stop was a delightful teashop, Babette’s, reminding me of Babette’s Feast, that well-known movie. Lovely cakes, a motley selection of English plates, teacups and teapots, wonderful selections of teas and a very generous and friendly hostess. Babette is English and started this shop /cafe 8 months ago. I went there when it had just been opened, and liked it very much indeed. Her cheesecake with raspberries was indeed delicious! It helped us to brave the rain again, and set foot towards Corrie ten Boom’s house, now a museum. It is just an old Dutch house, with a double wall behind which Jewish people could hide and did hide from the Nazi’s. Dreadfully cramped, dark and claustrophobic. Corrie’s life story and that of her family is well known, but perhaps people from the States can’t imagine what the conditions in Holland were during the war, or what this house – and many Dutch houses - looked like before and during the war. My friend was most impressed. As a child she had helped her mother sending clothes to Holland. We were in need of many basic things, which now seems unimaginable. The guide, a Finnish lady who grew up in Holland during the war, was very helpful and knowledgeable, which was a plus.

The false wall behind which the Jews were hidden

Climbing so many narrow stairs was a tiring business so we badly needed to sit down for a light lunch. That sitting down lasted longer than expected as many people milled around. It is holiday time and the sales are on, a bad combination. But the food was worth it once it came.

We then went to see the St. Bavo, the central church in the Market Square. I sing there regularly with a choir, but that is always at the end of the day when the light is generally poor. By now the rain had stopped and the sun came out which bathed the whole church in a beautiful light. It was empty of chairs as a winter show was being built up. It meant the choir was closed to us, but it gave us an uninterrupted view across the nave to the big and famous Müller organ, which Mozart played once. Many pictures later – I couldn’t resist taking pictures again - we emerged, into the sun this time!

Beatifully carved railings around the choir, and some paintings on the pillars at the back of the choir

The pipe organ: some details

Our next stop was the Frans Hals Museum. Not that there was a special exhibition, but I love the building itself as it is old and the original rooms and features are still intact. Like the Mauritshuis in The Hague it is intimate and in a way homely. Of course the paintings are impressive, but I think my guest was even more impressed by the beautiful dolls’ house, a house in miniature with exact replicas of everything one would find in a home of a well-to-do Dutch family at that time. A silversmith had made small silverware on scale, furniture too was made exactly as it was in real life. It wasn’t something children were supposed to play with, but a house to be shown to visitors and friends. A showpiece. And a showpiece it still is. There is another dolls’ house in the Gemeente Museum in The Hague which I like very much. The audio guide was a great help for my friend, who isn’t well versed in Dutch art. I enjoyed its comments too, the Dutch version that is. So now I still don’t know what a Schutterij is in English, but I presume it is a guild of civilian guards.

Frans Hals Museum: the former dining hall

Cabinet organ, a little bit more modest than the Muller organ!

By the time we had done the rounds, it was 5 o’clock and closing time.

Haarlem has many small, independent specialist shops which I love. Cook shops, camera shops with shop assistants who know what they are talking about, boutiques and bookshops, not to mention several other museums, interesting architecture, hidden almshouses and many picturesque canals and alleys. I couldn’t resist browsing the shops but once home I felt virtuous because I had resisted the temptation to buy anything at all. It was a well-spent day.