Day 107

August 4 2013

Hoorn

Do you get many tips? I asked the waiter who had served up a meal and a beer. "well" he said it works out about 2 Euro's per hour. All the tips go into a jar and at the end of the day we divide it up. He had already received a tip but I could not help myself (again) to say- I give you another (Australian)tip. Wees lief voor je moeder—be nice to your mum. The waiter smiled and said , Yes that is a good one! I will remember that.

I was sitting in café/restaurant the old town square of Hoorn, one of many important historical towns of Holland. Hoorn was famous for its sea going fleet at the 1600 and was the home base of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) who controlled the spice trade with what is now Indonesia and Southern India Exotic spices such as pepper, nutmeg, cloves etc were sold at vast profits. The Hoorn fleet plied the seven seas and returned laden with precious commodities. With their skill in trade and seafaring, sons of Hoorn established the town's name far and wide. Jan Pieterszoon Coen (who lived around 1600 AD) is famous for his violent raids in the Dutch Indies (now Indonesia), where he "founded" the city of Batavia in 1619 (now Jakarta). J.P .Coen has a statue on the Rode Steen square in the center of the town.

The name Hoorn or English “Horn “is also found on the most southern point of South America were you find Cape Horn; named after this town. Many of the town’s houses and merchant building are over 400 years old. At 9 pm it was still light and a comfortable temperature. The wind head died down; the outer harbour water surface was like a mirror making it a good photo opportunity to take some pictures of a few small sailing ships showing their reflection in the water. In the distance a yacht past the head of the harbour on its way to the IJsselmeer lake. Some flying insect danced on the water attracting the attention of some small fish swimming in the harbour. Summer in Holland, not a bad place to be at this time of the year.