We took one morning to explore the city of Haarlem. It is smaller and less busy than Amsterdam and there was one sight I really wanted to see there. Back when I belonged to a book club, one of the selections was "The Hiding Place"(thanks Tami). It is the true story of the Ten Boom family who were hiding Jews in their home during WWII and were discovered by the Nazis. The family was sent to concentration camps and Corrie, the author of the book, was the only survivor. It is a fabulous book.
Anyway, the Ten Boom house is still there along with the watch shop attached to it. There is a museum and a tour of the house. After checking to make sure we visited on a day that it was actually open, I spent the drive from our hotel to Haarlem telling the story to Alex and Ruby and getting them excited to actually visit this site. We arrived 15 minutes before opening to avoid any lines (as was recommended online) only to discover that the house/museum was closed! Apparently, a local school had reserved the entire morning for a school field trip. What are the chances???
We were all really disappointed, especially Alex. After hearing the story he was really excited to be able to see the actual hiding place still located in the house. It was not to be. We still took pictures and enjoyed seeing the rest of Haarlem.
Alex, Ruby and I standing in the center of Haarlem's Market Square with the Town Hall in the background
Haarlem had some of the most beautiful buildings
Pete and Ruby with the 15th century Gothic church in the background
More wooden shoes
Inside the church we were impressed by the pipe organ.It has 5,000 pipes and was played by Handel and Mozart.
Walking the streets of Haarlem
We stopped at this little outdoor cafe to warm up and enjoy the atmosphere
We had hot chocolate with whipped cream and Dutch apple pie
In front of the Ten Boom watch/jewelry shop
In the alley behind the watch shop you can find the Ten Boom house
So close, but yet so far
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