Up early today as we have planned a little side trip on the train. Mom makes our breakfast in the kitchen. Nothing fancy. Corn flakes, toast, yogurt, fruit and coffee. We spent €10 at the grocery store and we will get 3 breakfasts out of that, quite the discount. We like to eat at the table by the window and people watch while drinking our coffee. I work on the blog a bit while she gets ready and then off we go. At Centraal station, we take a I hour train ride to the old town of Delft. Mom wants to check out the pottery made only here called Delft Blue.

Delft Blue is the world-famous earthenware that has been produced in the city of Delft since the 17th century. Between 1600 and 1800, this earthenware was popular among rich families who would show off their Delft Blue collections to one another. Although the Delftware potters preferred to call their earthenware "porcelain", it was only a cheaper version of the real Chinese porcelain. Delft Blue was not made from the typical porcelain clay, but from clay that was coated with a tin glaze after it was fired. In spite of this, Delft Blue achieved unrivaled popularity and at its peak, there were 33 factories in Delft. Of all of these factories, the only one remaining today is Royal Delft.

The canal in front of the train station in Delft is under construction and so the public transportation system has been rerouted behind the station. We walk quite a ways to the bus station and take the 81 to old town Delft. It's a quick ride for €2 each but any walking I can save for Mom is good. The whole town square is deserted. Some of the stores are closed and when we asked about the Delft Blue factory, the bookstore lady thought it might be closed. Besides, it's a partial tram ride coupled with a long walk which is not happening. Fortunately for Karen, not me, there's a Royal Delft shop right here on the square so we head there. It's full of beautiful Blue Delft ceramics, some as much as €2000. Mom picks out a few things she likes, the lady packs them for us and we head out to explore the town. This time of year is not their big tourist season here.

It's cold while we wait for the bus to return to the train station but some guy on the street tells us it's another hour to wait and we should just walk. 10 minutes, he says. We walk but it's a mile and 30 minutes for us. Walking time for Mom is limited and we're burning it up. Anyway, an hour ride on the train back to Amsterdam and it's off to the daytime canal ride.

I've been on it a few years before before but it's very informative, there's no walking involved and Karen likes boats. It's an hour long and we roll through the old city, checking it out from the boat. These boats don't go down our canal, it's too small for them. They tell us that the typical house lot in the canals is 6 meters (20') and because frontage is so expensive, lots of homes are 5 stories tall with no elevator and very steep steps. Many are now apartments. The rich were able to purchase five or more lots to build mansions. Some were originally warehouses converted years ago into living space.

With the canal tour at an end, we walk around the town some more. It's dark now. It gets dark at 4:10pm and dawn is 8:10am so our daylight hours are limited. This will be typical for our entire trip. We stop at an Italian restaurant for dinner and then head back to pack. We must be at the train station for our train at 9:01am. Erik, our host, says goodbye and tells us just to drop the keys in the mail slot when we leave in the morning. We'll give him a good review when we have time. He had tons of stuff in there, all organized by date or alphabetically. So neat and clean too. Mom loves the bed.

Tomorrow, our first Christmas Market - Hannover, Germany.