Haggerty In The Hague

Susan Tedeschi Concert - we were so close!!

A couple of weeks ago, Matt and I went up to Haarlem to see Susan Tedeschi in concert for my birthday.  If you don’t know Susan Tedeschi, she is this awesome blues artist who has gotten lots of awards and recognition in the Blues genre and she has an INCREDIBLE voice and is an AWESOME guitar player.  Anyway, so Matt got off a little early on Friday and we decided to take a tour of Haarlem while we were there.

Haarlem (aka the city the Haarlem in NY is named after) is laid out like most dutch towns-  lots of canals and cute streets, a plein (or square) where the government buildings are as well as many cafes, and a great big church.  The church was very beautiful and Mozart actually played the organ in this church when he was 10!

Organ that Mozart played when he was 10

After wandering around Haarlem and dinner, we went to the concert.   It was standing only and we walked right up to the front row!!   It was an amazing time-  I recommend her concerts to anyone.  Below are a couple of videos for you to enjoy

“It Hurts So Bad” - yes I was rocking out

Susan Tedeschi strumming on the guitar

Netherlands, Summer

Gouda Cheese Market

Since I absolutely love Gouda cheese, I figured it was only appropriate to visit the city where it all came from.  The city of Gouda is only about a 30 minute train ride from the Hague and the cheese market is held every Thursday morning in the summer.

Today, the cheese market is more of a tourist attraction to show how farmers used to gather to have their cheese weighed, tasted and priced.  Nowadays, all of this is done through other means (via phone, business contacts, internet, etc.) but it is still neat to see how it was performed.  At the cheese market, I was able to see how the cheese was made, how farmers negotiate the price, and how the cheese was weighed at the end of the day.

The cheese girls; they were giving out samples and posing for pictures

These two gentleman were bartering for the cheese; the guy in white is buying and the guy in blue is selling. They slap hands until they come to an agreement (you probably have to see it :))

Weigh house for the cheese

In addition to selling cheese at the market, vendor stalls were all around selling farm fresh cheese, meats, veggies, and clothing.  It also had vendors demonstrating clog making and buttermilk preparation.  Overall, I was very glad I was able to go and see the market-  and I got some great fresh cheese to take back!

Netherlands, Summer

We’ve had a busy past few weeks and have been really bad about keeping the blog updated.  Not to worry-  we will get back on track!  Be sure to check back in the next week for posts about Gouda, the Susan Tedeschi concert we went to in Haarlem, and our trip to Giverny and the Loire Valley in France!

HITH