What to do on the Sunday before Rosh Hashana in The Netherlands with two ten year old girls? How about a train ride to the historic Dutch town of Delft, and a visit to the Royal Delft Pottery Factory? Sounds good to me, even though we did board the train without tickets, much to my daughter's shagrin, (not to worry, we bought tickets at the next major station.....) and we got a bit lost looking for the factory. But all in all, even with girls who don't love to walk around with no real plan in mind (as I do!) the trip was a great success, and it was fun learning about Delft pottery.
In the museum you'll see lots of stunning versions of plates created for the Royal Dutch family for many historic occasions.
You can see a real painter adding the details to a piece of pottery, up close! Very detailed work, which explains partly why the pieces produced today cost a small fortune!
I love the plates that include orange mixed with the traditional blue and white.
And the non blue and white versions of their work are also lovely.
This dining room gives us an idea of what a traditional Dutch dining room looked like around the time of the painter Vermeer, who lived and worked in the city of Delft.
Love this traditional Dutch china cabinet, dreaming of one for my dining room!
The Royal Delft factory also at one point were producers of all kinds of ceramic tiles and architectural details for building projects, so part of the factory was once a showroom of sorts showcasing their work.
The garden courtyard displaying some of the architectural details that were once made here.
A very sweet mural that one passes on the way into the present day factory.
Because we visited on a Sunday, there were no workers in the factory, but we were still permitted to wander around within a roped off area.
Check out these huge kilns! That's it for our little visit to the Royal Delft Factory, stay tuned for my photos of the city of Delft.
Oh and by the way, admission for children is free to the museum, which is mostly the case for museums of all kinds all over The Netherlands. Another good reason to go! Or maybe another good reason for me to go back with all the kids in tow? Time will tell!
