By Marisa Runyon #9 – Courtesy of Alabama Athletics
Today we got up to eat around 8 a.m. and departed at 9 for our adventure in Delft – the city of Delft Blue, the House of Orange and painter Johannes Vermeer. Looking at the weather, we noticed that it wasn’t going to get above 66 so most of us wore jeans. Yesterday, some of us started to play cards up front at the table on the bus where Coach Murphy sat so this morning Molly, Peyton, Murph and I sat at the table to play some card games. While mostly everyone else on the bus slept, we enjoyed playing 21, 31 and Kings in the Corners; a new game that Kate Harris taught us. Playing cards makes an hour bus ride fly by!
Every time we went shopping this past week, we were told to hold off on buying these little blue and white pottery pieces. This was because Delft is known for making these blue and white porcelain pieces known as Delftware that are iconic symbols of the Netherlands. When we arrived in Delft, our bus driver parked outside of the last standing Delftware factory from the 1700’s that had nothing but Delftware. From vases to windmills to a little boy and girl set up to kiss…they had it all. When we walked in, there was a small room where you could take your own picture to show up on a tile so a group of us gathered around to get in the picture. It was so cool! After that there was the small café, and before long we were all sitting in the cafe with desserts or drinks in front of us. Kallie and I had the apple turnover which was delicious and Andrea tried a strawberry dessert which she seemed to enjoy as well.
Our next stop was Delft Square. This was the main shopping and dining area in the village. We all grabbed lunch at a small restaurant and then we were able to go in small groups to look around. At lunch, Murph asked the waiter at the little restaurant if he had heard of Alabama and the waiter said, “of course!” and he started singing a wonderful version of Sweet Home Alabama. Murph gave him an Alabama softball pin on the spot! Some of us grabbed some ice cream and souvenirs while a few others got a tour in two different churches. Kallie came back with some new clothes while Danielle, Sydney and Chandler came back with a new pair of shoes!
Our last stop of the day was Tilburg, a small village where our bus driver’s family lives, so of course he gave us a little tour. We had dinner all set up for us at a nice restaurant but they didn’t have any English menus so we needed Peter (our bus driver) to translate. Like a lot of the food here, we had no idea what to expect but it was delicious! I think the bread was my favorite, it’s so good here.
The highlight of the day in my opinion was how excited Coach Aly was to go into a church on the way back to the bus after dinner. She looked over and saw the doors were wide open, but she was too excited to even think about looking behind her. Next thing we know, we’re screaming Aly’s name because she crossed right into the path of an elderly man on a bike. The man swerved and Aly jumped and screamed “sorry” as they just barely avoided each other. I must say, the man had a great recovery and didn’t even fall! This gave us plenty of laughs when Aly got back on the bus.
We were only 10 minutes away from where we are staying so it was a quick trip back from dinner. The rest of the night we were just bonding out in the hallway before our 10:30 curfew. We were told to wear something “comfy” tomorrow but we have no clue what is in store for us. All I can say is that it’s our last day to explore the Netherlands so no matter what, we are going to go out with a bang! I can’t wait to make some more memories. Roll Tide!
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