July 7, we are off To Haarlem, Netherlands..

So with Cathy in town, we took a day trip up to Haarlem, or Ha-Harlem as Cathy and Saviya enjoyed saying. Saviya and I had visited Haarlem on our 2006 trip and really enjoyed it. We actually considered living there before our trip. So this was our first trip to visit the city since our move.

In the main square they have a public market. Small, but more homemade and local stuff than some of Amsterdam's markets. The grand church in the background is also quite impressive.

These public buildings from the 1680s are pretty amazing.

So Saviya catches a wave on this iron sculpture.

Saviya loved the vase in this window so she asked me to take a picture... I took another...this time without her stuck inside like 'I Dream of Jeanie'

The grand tower and clock in the main square of Haarlem.

We walked around the back streets of Haarlem, randomly, coming across more Dutch treasures.

Saviya and Cathy clowning around Ha-Harlem

Finally there was this great windmil in the northeast bank of Haarlem. It isn't original, rebuilt after a fire in the last 20 yrs or so. It is now a museum, but was nice to see such a nicely built one, would be similar to what the locals might have seen erected 200 years ago...