My recent post from the royal palace in A’dam caused cousin & occasional guest contributor Sam to point out that he’d seen plenty of SPQ “x” signs all over during his visit last year. Herewith two examples he sent, one from Haarlem (left), the other from Amsterdam. Thanks for the sharp eyes, Sam 🙂
The lone gate of Haarlem’s old city walls that still stands is the Amsterdamse Poort (A’dam gate, originally named the Spaarnwouderpoort or Spaarnwouder Gate) and dating to the late 14th and early 15th centuries. One bikes right past this when one bikes over from my place to meet a friend for lunch in Haarlem, as I did on this particular day…
Briefly a royal palace from 1808 to about 1810, when Napoleon’s brother Louis was briefly King of the Netherlands before Napoleon took direct charge, this historic Haarlem building now apparently houses various provincial administrative offices for the Province of North Holland. For the curious, North Holland includes Amsterdam as well, and stretches from the island of Texel down almost to Leiden – which is at the northern end of Zuid Holland province. Yes, there is more to NL than A’dam :-).
Seen last Monday in Haarlem, when I biked over for lunch with a friend on the first day of this glorious ten-week vacation that I’m currently taking. As our last post showed, I’m now back in the Bay Area, having traveled Tuesday (my yesterday) much further away from home than a simple one-hour bike ride. Expect more California and US in the coming weeks, but don’t be surprised when NL, BE and CH photos crop up.
(so much world, so little time....) 