87 West: Europe // Haarlem, Netherlands

One of the days in Holland was spent taking a day trip to Haarlem. On our list of things to do were the Corrie ten Boom house, St. Bavo Cathedral, and general exploring!

The Corrie ten Boom museum was absolutely incredible. Corrie was a compassionate Dutch Christian woman who hid Jews in the upper room of her Haarlem home during World War II. She was eventually caught and sent with her family to concentration camps, but she survived. She was a woman of inspiring faith in God, and it was refreshing to take a tour where that fact was mentioned often and freely. In a very secular, ordinary place we felt the strength and spirit of that wonderful woman's faith and love for others! The tours are free, and they just ask for donations at the end if you feel so inclined. It was an excellent tour, done very well. I loved it.

In doing more research on Corrie after coming home, I found that picture above of her in front of her beloved church, the Cathedral of St. Bavo. I realized I had taken a picture from that exact vantage point while I was there! Kind of cool.

This was the first European cathedral I had ever been in, and the moment I walked in, I totally cried. Yep. Ryan, who had been in several cathedrals like these during his travels, laughed at me. The place was so beautiful! Every surface was beautiful. The ceilings, the pillars, the organ, the floor, the long hallways... You could feel it was a place of worship, and that those involved in its construction spared no expense to give their absolute best to their God. We also lucked out and walked in during an organ student's lesson, and oh my goodness with the acoustics and the enormous organ pipes, that grand beautiful music just filled you up with its sound! It was stunning. The video I include here gives some justice to the sound, but it just can't transfer the incredible feeling and resonance of the music as it filled those soaring arched ceilings. It was a feeling I will never forget.

Got some chocolate, of course.

^^ Ahh the cuteness!!!

We bought some sort of amazing cheese at this shop. I don't remember what it was. Also, a funny memory from this shop - Ryan, who loves language and was trying to learn the basics of Dutch, asked an employee here (who of course spoke perfect English too) how the Dutch said "Sorry." "Like for example if I accidentally bumped into someone, what would I say to them?", Ryan asked. "Well most people would say 'pardon', but really you could just say '{expletive} off!' and they'd get the message." And then he roared with laughter and we were caught so off guard that we couldn't help but bend over laughing. Quite unexpected. [: So we learned some more native Dutch that day, I guess.