http://www.schnitger.nl
City-websites:
http://www.alkmaar.nl
http://www.grotekerk-alkmaar.nl
Photos taken with cell phone
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Haarlem
Dutch Reform Church, Alkmaar
We got up early, took the Metro to the rail station
and boarded the 9:45 train to Amsterdam. It was a
first class trip on high-speed rail with a small petit
dejuner (breakfast) included to Brussels. The next
leg was slower, through Belguim with a stop at
Antwerp. We were given lunch on that leg of the
trip. Lots of bread, butter, meats and fruit. Coffee
that is out of this world! We got to Amsterdam
about 3pm and called our host, Therese Goos.
She gave us instructions on how to meet her. We
took the ferry from behind the station to a landing
where she was waiting with her car. A few minutes
later we arrived at the Arrantea Bed and Breakfast.
We have an upstairs room that you have to
access by climbing a small wooden spiral stairway.
Beautiful place. We got a shower and planned out
our evening excursions. I wanted to go to the
organ recital in Alkmaar at 8pm. Adam wasn't into
that, so we decided to split up at the train station
and meet at a specified time. We took the bus to
the train station (stop just a 1/4th mile away) and
split up at the station. Adam spent the evening
snooping around Amsterdam; I took the local train
to Alkmaar, which is about 35 minutes north of
Amsterdam.
I arrived in Alkmaar at 6pm, but the concert didn't
begin until 8pm, so I had time to walk to the church
and eat before the concert. The church is about
15 minutes from the station by foot, and what a
totally charming town it is. Alkmaar must be the
place people from the city go to get away from it
all. Touristy, kind of "brown county-ish." The
people were all extremely polite and kind, very
highly evolved, I think. It reminds me a little of
Brigadoon...too perfect to be real. Everyone walks
or rides bikes there and in some ways it reminds
me a little of Put In Bay, Ohio (but not as wild!)
I found the church quite easily, and had dinner in a
cafe/bar outside across the street from the church.
St Laureates must be Dutch reform, not Catholic.
I got in the huge building and saw there were two
organs there. The small one is the older (Van
Covlins). The larger one was huge. Both organs
were to played at the concert. I stopped at the gift
shop and got a CD and a CD ROM showing the
inner workings of the organs. There was also a
cafe and a museum inside the church.
I sat in between the two organs. First they played
the smaller organ... a couple of pieces from the
1600s, which were authentic to the time period the
organ was built. Then they paused to switch to the
larger organ. Everyone was silent as you heard
some pulleys squeaking to open up what was
hidden by a cover decorated with artwork.... they
uncovered a magnificent organ approximately two
and a half times bigger than the pipes showing on
the wall. I believe the largest pipes were 22 ft
long!!! He played a Mendolssohn piece first and
then did an original piece that really exploited the
organ's abilities.... from the very high to the very
low. Incredible! After an intermission they did
some Bach and I took off for the train station
tocatch a train back to Amsterdam central. I met
Adam at 10pm and we started back by bus to
the B & B.
I think that The Netherlands must be doing
something right...low crime rate, high standard of
living...a truly civilized society. Marijuana is legal
and prostitution and gambling are run by the state.
Guns are illegal here and they also have national
health care for everyone that is state of the art.
The rail system is the best I've seen so far. These
people don't have the kind of problems that plague
our society. Maybe the US could learn a thing or
two from them. In many ways this is almost a
Utopian Society. I hear that Denmark has an even
higher standard of living. It will be interesting to go
there on Friday. The game plan is to go back to
Alkmaar for the Cheese Market tomorrow morning
(Friday) and then hear the noon organ recital.
The back to Amsterdam station where we will take
an overnight train to Coperhagen (Kobenhagen)
Yesterday, after my emailed update, Adam and I
did a boat tour of Amsterdam. Beautiful city with
lots of canals and fascinating architecture. All of
the buildings have these unique gables on top and
the higher class you were the more ornate the
gable was. This was and is a big shipping port, so
lots of commerce and merchants in the city.
Actually Rotterdam, just down the road, boasts to
be the largest port in the world.
We took a walking tour around the red light
district...by day not much going on, but I suspect
that changes dramatically after dark. We decided
to skip the sex museum, and the line to the Anne
Frank house was long, and we were tired and
HOT, so we went back to our B & B at around
6pm, stopping to get dinner from a local grocery.
Then we spent the evening watching old TV
re-runs in English with Dutch subtitles. We had an
uncomfortable night's sleep because it was so hot
and no wind.
We woke up early this morning and packed to
leave the B & B. We hauled our bags to the train
station and secured a locker for them. Then we
set off for Alkmaar, to go to the Cheese Market.
Tons of people! It is a weekly affair, although
Adam and I found it to be a bit too staged for our
tastes. They go through this big ceremony in
costume to determine which cheese is ripe to sell.
Then they do this dance where they haggle over
price and slap the backs of their hands when they
agree on a price. Tradition, I guess. There was a
bunch of cheese, mostly Gouda... the biggest
collection of wheels of cheese I have ever seen.
You're talking 25 and 50 pound wheels. Obviously
bought by the professionals. We opted for a few
smaller wheels and then went on to the free organ
recital. They played the large one...very
impressive once again. Just a short concert and
people kind of came and went.
Our next stop was Haarlem. What an incredible
village. A quaint medieval village (not nearly so
"touristy") with a large central square with a Gothic
Dutch Reform church at one end, St Bavo's
church of Haarlem. We toured the facility and
what a stunning organ. There were 3 organs in
the building, and I stayed for the service in which
the organist played the newer, more modern
organ. After the service I was invited to stay to
hear him practice on the mammoth one, built by
Christian Mueller of Amsterdam. It has quite a
history, in fact the Amsterdam area was the
cultural center of Europe for quite some time. This
particular organ, according to the information they
displayed, was played by both Mozart and Haydn.
Then we hit the station and headed back to
Amsterdam. Our train to Copenhagen doesn't
leave until around 7pm so we have a few hours to
kill here yet. We will sleep on the train and be to
Copenhagen by tomorrow morning.
