Kasteel De Haar ... Again!

Today I brought our Am guest here and it seems she was delighted, so, of course, so was I. I joined her for the tour inside and didn't mind, although I did notice the difference between the tour guide we had today and the one I had last time. No matter. It is a fascinating place with an interesting history.

This is the ticket office and souvenir shop, closed for the day. After the castle tour, we walked around the gardens and were one of the last ones to leave. It had been cloudy the whole time but, thankfully, not all that cold, so that was okay. We hadn't brought our coats, which was good. I'll wait another couple of years before I visit again. By that time, the private wing might be open for viewing. Right now, it's hidden behind the scaffolding and canvas as workmen are busy cleaning and repairing the brickwork.

Anyway, we had dinner at home and then went to Breda to introduce our guest to a real Dutch coffee shop. For the uninitiated, Dutch coffee shops do NOT serve coffee. Our guest wasn't allowed in, even only for a peek, because she is not Dutch and coffee shops near the border with Belgium or Germany are not allowed to serve foreign customers, even if these customers do not, uh, smoke. If she wants to see a coffee shop from the inside, she'll need to go to Dordrecht or Rotterdam. A little frustrating but, well, our coffee shops want to stay on the good side of the law. We walked around and ended up having a beer (tea for me) in one of the local pubs. As we say in Dutch, 'Gezellig!'