Delft; Sunday, 06 August, 2023

Overnight there had been a few more torrential downpours as a storm that had been battering the UK the previous afternoon and evening passed over The Netherlands, but by morning there were more patches of blue sky than clouds, so after a quick breakfast and checkout I had another wander around town before heading over to the city’s Botanical Gardens.

The Gardens were originally built as a research facility for the Technical University – a purpose that they still serve, but now also double up as a quiet green oasis in the centre of the city.

After a long wander round the gardens, I headed back into town and over to the former cattle market where I’d discovered there were even more restaurants and bars than the nearby Markt square so headed here for lunch.

When I arrived there was a clear blue sky and warm sun, about 20 minutes later there was the clatter of customers who weren’t under cover diving for it as another punch shower passed through, a pattern that repeated a couple of times over the next 90 minutes or so whilst I decided to have a slow lunch.

Lunch completed and looking like the showers had stopped for a little while, I had a final wander around the city centre, heading over to the Catholic church of Maria van Jessekerk for a quick look around this much more richly decorated church than the Lutheran Old and New Churches.

From Maria van Jessekerk it was about a 10-minute walk back to the hotel where I picked up my luggage and headed towards the station, which I’d clearly timed well as another hefty shower was just about to hit – the first drops falling just as I stepped into the shelter of the station building.

My train from Delft was on time leaving but managed to lose a couple of minutes on the 15 minutes journey round to Den Haag, so the comfortable 6-minute connection turned into a 3 minute quick dash between platforms 2 and 9 to make the connection onto the Schiphol train, which took me onto the airport and my flight home.