A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 1 March 2022 - T for Zebra and Gouda revisited

 

Hello lovely ladies, it's Tuesday again! My, my, how those weeks fly by! It seems like yesterday I showed you a postcard, and here we are again.

My postcard for today comes from the Netherlands, with a very un-typically Dutch animal. It's a beautiful zebra.

It was sent by Ann from Utrecht.

The stamp features a tulip, that is indeed very typically Dutch. 

The Dutch grow lots of tulips for their bulbs which get exported. Many bulb flowers are grown in large fields of flowers which are a sight to behold!

Tulips have been an important part of the Dutch economy and culture for hundreds of years.  In the early 1600s, there was even a “Tulip mania” (known as one of the first economic bubbles), where a single coveted tulip sold for as much as a house! Today, the Netherlands still supplies the majority of the tulip bulbs sold around the world.

 The Semper Augustus tulip. It is famous for being the most expensive tulip sold during the tulip mania of March 1637, when one tulip bulb of this variety sold for the sum of 5000 florins. Adjusted to (2013) US dollars that is $2,500.

But here I am waffling on about tulips, I had promised more photos of Gouda! Here they are:

An interesting barber shop.

Here is a photo of the interior I found on the Internet:

Gouda is also famous for its candles. Here is a shop that sells candles made to order. 

The Sint Janskerk in Gouda, the Netherlands, is a large Gothic church, known especially for its stained glass windows, for which it has been placed on the UNESCO list of Dutch monuments. The church is dedicated to John the Baptist, the patron saint of Gouda, and was built during the 15th and 16th centuries. In 1552 a large part of the church burned, including the archives.  Around 1350 a tower was built (only the lower part remains). In 1485 the foundation was built for the present-day choir. This expansion made the church the longest in the Netherlands, with a length of 123 meters.

The stained glass windows were made and installed primarily by the brothers Dirk and Wouter Crabeth I, in the years 1555-1571, and after a short stop for the Protestant Reformation, until 1603. During the Reformation the church was spared, because the city fathers sided with the reigning king Philip II of Spain, rather than William the Silent, representing the Orange rebels. Later, after the orangists conquered the northern half of Holland, Gouda reverted to Orange in 1572. It was only during this period that the church was in danger, and three weeks later an angry mob stormed the church and plundered the contents, but left the windows intact. The church was closed, but many wealthy regents of the city attempted to have it reopened. In 1573 the Gouda council prohibited the practice of Roman Catholic religion and in the summer it was opened for the Protestant Dutch Reformed faith, which it still has today.

I walked into this interesting shop.

Lots of coffee and tea related items as well as specialist coffees and teas.

The shop is called Kaldi and this is the outside of the shop.

Market square with iconic 15th century gothic city hall.

A bakery with an old delivery 'box' that I remember well from my childhood. This one is advertising 'Stroopwafels'. 

 is a thin, round waffle cookie made from two layers of sweet baked dough held together by caramel filling.

Stroopwafels are put on top of your hot drink.

Warming up a Stroopwafel on a cup served a dual, double Dutch purpose: 1) it would keep the coffee warmer for longer and 2) make the caramel waffle all warm and melty, thereby releasing the aromas and gooey goodness inside. This little ‘warm it up on your cup’ ritual still works beautifully today. 

You can tell by the bad lighting that the weather was not good.

I found a little place to have coffee (a lot of places were closed).

This was the view.

I wanted something decadent with my coffee, and this heavenly cheesecake fitted the bill.

My coffee was called Creme Brulee coffee. Very nice it was too. (albeit a tad sweet).

A cheese shop.

This old coach house now houses a hat and bag shop.

I came across this zebra crossing on my way back to the station.

Well done if you are still here. It was rather a long post. 

Now it's off to the T-Party hosted by Elizabeth and Bleubeard. I think I have several qualifiers among my photos. (Even a whole shop of drink related things.)

And last but not least:

Thinking of and praying for the people of Ukraine.

Happy T-Day!

Hugs,

Stay safe,

Lisca