This is the railway station in Delft. There are no car parking places, only bicycle parking. There are many bicycles in front of the station that can’t be seen in this photo and many more around the sides and back. The internet café is the one with the green paint on the right, the marijuana café is next door and our apartment is just round the corner overlooking the canal. The bus terminal is in front of the station to the left and the tram runs on the other side of the canal in front of the station. The trains are fast, clean, frequent and on time. Although we have a car until the end of the month we use the trains and trams to go to and get around nearby cities we have visited. Ticket costs are about the same as parking costs and there is less hassle. We have been to Rotterdam, the worlds largest port and Den Haag (The Hague) the center of government, the site of the World Court and the home of the Queen of the Netherlands. Both are interesting cities, but very different in character. We need to make a few more trips before we have seen all we want to see, more details later.

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All is going smoothly with the boat. The survey went well with no items that would preclude purchase and the sale was completed on Monday. On Wednesday we brought the boat from its home marina in Isselmere, a suburb east of Rotterdam, down the New Maas River, through the center of Rotterdam and entered the canal system through a lock. Then it was opening a few bridges and four hours later we were at our temporary mooring on a small canal off the main canal in Delft, about a mile away from our apartment. We wanted to moor in front of the apartment but the bridge leading to it was too low to get the boat under. We have to take the car back on Sunday, so we have been in a frenzy of shopping to outfit and stock the boat. Our shipment of nine boxes of stuff and our bicycles was delayed in England; it took a call back to the US to the shipping company to get things moving. We are expecting delivery this Wednesday and on Thursday our marine supplies will be delivered. Also on Thursday the government man comes to hammer the official registration numbers into the hull. The previous owners had the boat built for them but never officially registered it. We decided it might avoid possible future problems it we had it registered in our names. Next Monday we will check out of the apartment and move onto the boat. We can only spend one night on it where it is moored and the next day we will have to move somewhere else, location to be determined.

Easter is a holiday weekend here and all the stores closed early on Friday and won’t reopen until Tuesday, so we have been relaxing like the natives. On Tuesday, when everyone is back to work, we plan to visit the Tulip fields.

We are enjoying Holland very much, especially Delft which is a charming small city. We couldn’t have chosen a better place to start off. The apartment is part of the Hotel de Kok run by a family of husband, wife and two grown sons. They come in every Friday to clean and change the sheets and towels; they are always helpful with translations, directions and advice on how to get the stuff we need.

We have had a few questions on our opinion on the cost of living here. On first impression, and without any specific analysis, we would say that it is a bit more expensive than Seattle, but not greatly so. The 19% Value Added Tax and the exchange rate of $1.08 or so to one euro are probably the main contributors.

That’s all for now. We love to hear back from you.