PART 2 - this follows the preceding one (it's how Blogspot works).

OK, I had too many things not working, so I'm starting a quick fresh one to finish off - the blog post after this one is in fact the first part - suggest reading it first.

This will be a series of pictures with some captioning - hopefully it all works...

Another day trip (actually, only three hours) was lunch in Delft - a short train ride away.  This is the Nieuwe Kerk 1393-1450,  it replaced a temporary church from 1381.  The spire was added to several times, and different materials reacted in different ways to the environment. The Royal Family are buried here.

20 years after his death, a Royal Mausoleum was commissioned for William of Orange in 1609. 

The Oude Kerk 1240 replaced the original from 1050.  It has a leaning tower some 2m off plumb.  Started in 1325, it had a final layer added around 1850 and this final section is upright.

Johannes Vermeer's grave in the Oude Kerk.

Came home one morning to find the large terrace across the way had an instant forest delivered.  Very impressive it is too.

We spent five days in Manchester last month visiting friends Peter and Tom.  Intriguing city, full of distinct contrasts, old with the new.  Pride was on, so we were very busy.

The set of Coronation Street at Granada Studios.

Quite liked the little lanes and variety of architecture.

Went for a drink at an old pub situated in this quaint English village.

The village is built around this church which is the oldest timber framed church in the world.

We had our pints pulled by this lovely English lad.

Peter outside the country home in Bostock Hall - Tom was at work.  They have this country house plus a flat in Manchester on Canal Street.  It is around 50 minutes from house to flat.

Their home is in a converted barn, and there are around 60 dwellings on the estate.  Quite beautiful!

Rene feeding ducks beside the lake at Bostock Hall.

The Manchester Pride parade passed inside of hour hour, much faster and more involving than the Amsterdam parade.  This is the Coronation Street float.

Another view of the Coro St float.

Usual suspects at every parade :)

Fireman Tom missed out on a pink fireman's helmet and had to settle for a yellow one.  The Manchester Fire Brigade handed them out, with their pink fire engine leading their part of the parade.

The local branch of the Gay Gordons.

The dining room and kitchen of Peter and Tom's flat on Canal Street.  Very smart!

We visited Chester on the Bank Holiday Monday. It has two sets of shops along the streets, one low and the other one floor up.  The oldest covered shopping streets in the world.

Chester Cathedral was our fourth church of the week.  Impressive to say the least.

Busy High Street in Chester.

We had a short walk along part of the city walls, above the Roman ruins.

The Welsh were on the other side of this river, so the walls were well fortified.

Read the date on this facade - the covered 2 level shopping streets are this old.

Neil (Canberra) and Rene enjoying a drink at the beach before dinner back home. Of course, I was there too!

Before the new kitchen additions go in, the old end wall had to go.

Extended wall ready for the cupboards and bench top.

The place filled up with boxes of cupboards ready to be installed the next day.

We took Neil to Kinderdyke for the afternoon - always impressive!

The improved kitchen.  Now we just have to finish the outside walls of the benches plus have the bench top matching sorted out.  It'll happen soon enough, meanwhile the kitchen works and the mess has disappeared.

Took Neil north of Amsterdam to Hoorn for lunch and saw someone planking the old church theatre, beside a 1620 town hall.

Drove from Hoorn to Groningen across the 32km long Afsluitdijk dyke keeping one side salt water and the other fresh.  Seen it before, and it is always really impressive.  Carries a 4 lane motorway (130km/h).

The following day showed Neil a favourite palace of ours - Paleis Het Loo.  Beautiful interiors plus magnificent gardens.

Het Loo is a favourite spot for weddings.

Last Saturday a convoy of trucks blared their horns across our part of the city on their 26th annual run for the disabled children - I saw/heard three convoys each with around 80 vehicles and the horns operated by the kids pass our house.

The interior of the Ridderzaal, where the Queen this Tuesday will give her annual speech to Parliament on the year ahead.  Dates from the mid 13thC.

Exterior of the Ridderzaal - the only building to have a circular Gothic window yet not be a church.

Last Sunday was beautiful, and likely to be our last day for ages, so the beaches were again crowded.  I cycled there for a drink with our friend Isabelle, Rene was following a few minutes later.  When I arrived I had no idea where to leave the bike, but fortunately Rene arrived and he found a spot and we chained our two bikes together.

New building about to start here, featuring an Irish Primark department store.  Called 'Amadeus' after Mozart, who once lived on the site for 9 months.

'De Markies' is the new store for Marks and Spencers being built here in Den Haag. 'De Markies' is The Marquis in Dutch - nice play on words.

Last Tuesday there was a tram accident here involving a #11 tram we often use.  35 people were injured, none seriously.

He was 9 years old when he lived here, and Mozart composed 'The Hague Symphonies' during his time here.

A nice lunch spot on a canal near the Oude Kerk, Delft.