Shopping In the Binnenstad

....I rolled out of bed with a yawn and skuffed out into the living room, shaking my shoulders and stretching, with my fists clenched and arms stretched high....mmmm....blinked and saw my partner already fiddling-about on the compi ans I moseyed over, gave her a peck and asked if she wanted a re-fill on her cuppa tea (does anyone ever say, "no"?).
I poured them and delivered her tea and flopped-down into the chair at the edge of the room and asked if she had thought about going into town for a little look-see. It was Saturday and the weekly Saturday market was in full swing now with the Christmas spirit pervading out little land.
She said it would be a good idea because......a list ensued.
"OK", I said and padded off to the kitchen to set the table and heat-up a couple of rolls.
We ate, bathed and brushed, got dressed and headed off to town on our bikes.
We went into the Wisselstraat and parked our bikes outside my pal Pim's little shop, chained the bikes together and went in for a chat. He and his bride were celebrating their birthdays the following day and he asked again if we were coming. We go every year.
After a few words and saying hello to his girls, we headed out the door and into the alley and then into the shopping street.

The streets are filled with stands on this street and all streets except the main shopping street on Saturdays. We had to worm in between the bakers stall and the Lumpia stand , crossed the street and headed into another connecting alley filled with people and shops.

My partner was after shoes and blouses for her work, I was just after a good time. We went into and out of a hand full of shops but the first shoe shop she went into we came across her sister (also looking for shoes). I was suddenly out of a job as advisor, so I perused the men's shoes, but found nothing—ach; I didn't really need any anyway.
By the time that my b-i-l got back to the shop a decision had been made and the sisters had made a purchase.
We parted ways and continued walking the alley. She scored on a pair of shoes—this promised to be a good day.

Eventually we came out of the alley and emerged into a wide residential street that runs parallel with the main shopping street. There was a park bench and it was time for my bride to have a smoke, so we sat. It was at this moment that noticed how nice it was outside. It was gray weather, but there was no wind and I had my coat unzipped and open. It wasn't bad at all. It was in fact a perfect day to be out and shopping. I looked at the old façades of the houses lining the street. Some of them were houses built in the 1500's and 1600's. One can see that simply by looking above the doors. You see something like "Anno 1583" carved into the stone lintel. I just sat and thought how lovely the old town indeed was and what a pleasant day it was to be out and about.

Well, it was a charming scene, but there was shopping to be done, so it was up and attem. We crossed the street and headed into another short alley, which brought us out onto the main shopping street of our little town, "De Grote Noord", or "The Big North" to translate it literally.
This is a wide street and no traffic is allowed on it. We first went left which took us by all sorts of shops. We proceeded up to the Rode Steen (where miscreants were once be-headed) which is the real center of town, went over to the other side of the street and headed back down the Grote Noord, stopping by a shop called "Douglass", a perfume shop. I tried to dissuade her from going in there -not TOO hard though, for that would have aroused suspicion. ---whispering—You see, I had already bought her a bottle of Chanel No. 5 for Christmas. She really likes that and hasn't had any for a year or so. The trouble was that when she was off in Haarlem the other day she smelled a new fragrance and simply asked the lady what the parfum was that she was wearing. She noted the name and decided to get some for herself—sigh. Well she had announced that she was going to treat herself to Chanel or the new one.
I tried a few tactics like saying "ach...that doesn't smell so special to me"...and "I wonder if that won't dissipate too quickly in the wind".
....but all I was doing was digging a hole for myself and coming out looking like a total stick in the mud.
I had to resign myself. She got one of those women to assist her—you see what I mean? I had lost already andddd...I looked like a disinterested miser (who was stuck with an expensive bottle of fancy parfum)! Jeez, I like it better when I can just be honest.
Well, in the end she got the new one (which still would make me a winner in the future—cos the Chanel No. 5 would be a nice surprise for her birthday in June...or is that July?) Hahaha just kidding.

I liked that new fragrance and so does she. She had some sprayed onto a strip of paper and onto the back of her hand. It smelled nice freshly sprayed, but once the alcohol had evaporated, and the parfum had mixed with her own skin it smelled REALLY nice. She asked me to sniff it and sniffed it a few times herself. She would let me sniff it from time to time the rest of the day.
....Well there's a lesson here, isn't there, girls—If you notice that your man is acting weird when you are trying to buy something special....chances are that he has already bought it for you!

We next breezed into the Phone shop to pick-up a telephone for my m-i-l. --One with huge numbers and a very loud ring tone. They had what we required. --Another success.

After a few more shops she found upon another shoe. This one was higher (to slightly above the ankle).—in case the snow is too deep. Mmm- humm...right. She did indeed find an attractive one and that went into the bag.

--About now, my tum was beginning to groan and we were near "the Four Seasons". We decided to break-off the spree and re-fuel.
The Four Seasons is a very tiny little lunchroom, I guess you'd call it.
I said to her to wait a moment and I would have a look inside.
When we had first looked there was a line and all the tables were full, but after the most recent purchase, there was indeed one table for two that was free.
Great! I was ready for some food. She sniffed her hand, then held it to me and said, "Smell". Is it still good". I enthousiastically said that it was.
We had a light lunch and decided to have the hot tea and apple pie further along. Since the little eatery was so full and busy, it took awhile for the food to come, which was just fine. It was nice to just sit and chat.

Proceeding down the way, I greeted an acquaintance and felt renewed and ready to continue. The next shop had a shirt on sale which was just the thing for me. I could wear it under a colbert to Pim's party. It would also make a good gardening shirt. Now I was seeing possibilities here and there. Chuckle.
After a few more shops, my bride found a blouse on sale. And she tried on I don't know how many trousers. I had to walk back and forth a couple of times to bring other sizes. In the end, she did not get any of them—just the blouse.
At the end of the street there was a fresh veg and fruit stand where the owner was shouting out prices of things—so old fashioned and typical. We looked over some of the things but I didn't see or feel anything that looked good enough. Next to that material and next to that kitchen wares, then clothing...and so it goes on the market. We came to a stall that sold thick shirt-jackets, socks , gloves and ....garden shoes. Plastic ones somewhat shaped like our wooden shoes. These were the ones that Hetty at the gardens had been talking about...swearing-by. My bride didn't know how quickly to start trying them on. ...saying all the while, "these are the ones, these are the ones". Then she started on me. I wasn't looking for anything . Well, I did try one and it was too small for my foot—"No problem", the man said "I have the next size". Sigh. "Ok, lemmie have a look at them then".
It had a cork innersole. I slipped my foot into that thing and I lit up like Cinderella when they came by with that glass slipper...the harps began to pling and the violins started....Was Walt Disney was making his next film from on high? I looked around to see if the Prince (or in my case, the Princess) had sent a carriage with pages to find me and convey me back to the castle.

---I shook my head---and the plinking harp and little stars faded along with the illuminating glow. The weather was gray and I was in Hoorn.
---"And, and...??", chirped my bride, snapping me out of the 15th century carriage and back to reality.
"Yes.....erm, yes, they DO fit and feel good".
"Bless Hetty" she peeped, turning to the salesman, and telling him how long we had been looking for these, and HIM.
I don't even recall what they cost—5 euros I believe.
She said that she was really happy for me and her that she found those comfy shoes, but had I smelled her parfum?

As we strolled further, all she could say was, "I never thought you'd get them. You never get things quickly like that". "It's Christmas I grumped with a straight face" :-? , still a leedl disappointed at having missed-out on palace life.

Finally we came to "De Keizerskroon", a hotel restaurant, and a favourite in Hoorn. Here awaited hot tea and a slice of apple pie with whipped cream for us. We found a table and I grabbed a waitress by the elbow and placed an order in the most friendliest of ways.
Boy, was I ever ready for some hot tea. After I had ordered and as we were sitting there, I saw the older woman at the table next to ours receive a cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream on top, sprinkled with pure chocolate powder. I moaned, that I could have done with one of those. I had forgotten about that, as the weather was so mild.
My bride looked at me and crooned, batting her twinkling eyes and grinning like a possum, "Have you smelled my parfum"?

Again renewed, we set out on the last leg of our market sweep. This stretch runs from the old cow market (and was once a wide canal) on up to where a river once flowed into the city. That and the other street had been filled-in donkeys years ago and now are simply streets.
Making our way along the stalls we passed by one with card-making supplies and immediately thought of Eileen. We looked in shops for something for Pim's wife. We found it in the form of a fragrant shower soap. They gift-wrapped it very nicely and we pressed on.
Next it was the pet stall. We selected some loose sunflower seeds, raw peanuts in the shells and a couple of other birdie-goodies and moved on to the bakers. They have excellent coissants (sp?) for Sunday brekkie.

Well folks, by this time I had three totally full bags in each hand and my partner had one. We had had a successful day in all respects.
We turned into the Wisselstraat and went into Pim and Marleen's shop with our Booty and had a show and tell...or show and SMELL, I should say.
We chatted for awhile and then said goodbye. Before we went out the door Marleen said, "Oh, could this be yours"? She was holding up bike keys. OMG! I had left my key in the bike as I was chaining our bikes together at the beginning of the day. I guess that my red face lit up the whole street. Well my partner's bike was locked and her chain was intertwined with my bike, but still, it was a bit unsettling. Bike theft is very common in our city—throughout Nederland actually.

We biked out of the centrum and over to my m-i-l's place. She was delighted with the new fone and had questions about every button and characteristic. Once installed and practice calls made and received we chatted and I cleaned-up her compi for her. We had more tea and bikkies—but then it was time for the last stop. We promised to call her again to check the fone when we got home.
We had to go to the grocery store. Bread and milk were necessary because it was weekend.

We arrived home with sighs as we flopped our plastic bags and ourselves down. I made a bite to eat changed into "house clothes" and settled into my big, deep chair for the evening. We watched the news and then called my m-i-l. 16 rings and no answer. We waited 15 minutes and called again—16 rings and no answer. After the third unsuccessful try, one of us had to go back over to my wife's mum's house. She is quite old and so an unanswered fone conjures-up all sorts on unpleasant scenarios.
Since my wife was still dressed, she went. I got the idea to try calling from my mobile. It worked! Mam was ok. WHEW! I was just getting ready to tell her that I thought that I had the answer to the fone problem after explaining that we had been trying without success to call her. She thought that she was perhaps in the bathroom when we tried.
--but she had already thought of it. -the fone's electrical source was the block of outlets that her compi was plugged into. So when she turnrd the compui off, so went her fone. Sheesh!
Her bedroom fone is in a separate fone outlet so that still worked. While we were speaking, my bride arrived there and said, that she thought that she knew the problem. We had all there figured it out independently.
Just as I was hanging up I heard my wife in the background ask her mum to smell her parfum.

 

Whew, I sure couldn't keep up with you two! It sounded like a fun day, though. I love market places. Thanks for taking us along.

 

I just loved reading your story Sjoerd. You have a natural talent. Sounds an exhausting but enjoyable day and tell your bride I can almost 'smell' her perfume
Thanks, it made very entertaining reading :-D

 

enjoyed your shopping day. Glad to see you like to shop with your bride. (some men don't) mine would rather just go, get what we only need and get back home. No fun in that if I can't have time to look around. Thanks for a fun day. ay-btw-smell the perfume.

 

Whew I'm wore out from all that shopping. I did enjoy the trip.I was wondering how you manage to carry all that home unless you have a bike trailor Plus Milk and bread.Oh yeah
smell the perfume

 

Thank you all for the nice comments and I salute you for having the endurence to read that epistle to the end. I shall try and not do this too often.

Gardengirl, Petuinis and Glenda----tch, Oh you! Don't encourage her. hahahaha

Eileen--ok it's a date.

 

Sjoerd, I really enjoyed the shopping trip. Oh, and I was also ready for the tea and pie. But my feet got tired! Too bad we don't have 'scratch and sniff'...BTW what fragrance did she buy for herself???

You really have a talent for writing...

 

I'm exhausted! Please send a big mug of cocoa with cream and some biscuits. I would have loved to perk on your shoulder and watch your face twist while your mind was working on how to get your wife out of that perfume shop.

We have the same rule that Toni has, it makes life around Christmas a lot easier.

 

What an exhausting day Sjoerd!
We have the same rule as Toni does and we also use that rule around birthdays

 

what a wonderful post sjoerd! i really enjoyed every minute of your travels. i think i would really love it over there, the little market places and old streets, etc... sure does beat big city malls and shiney signs that we have here in our cities. it must be similar, a bit, to our farmers markets we have here.

hubby is a Vietnam veteran and he spent tour time over there and in England and Turkey, etc... and really loved it, the open markets and such. we're very settled here, out in the country with a long ride to the city and a little convenience store in between, or otherwise, we'd for sure, come visit you and your bride!

 

Thanks for reading the posting and for your really nice comments.

KUNTRYGAL--The parfum was Givenchy Amarige Mariage.
It smells quite nice to me; but then, I like smelling parfums. Ahhhhhhh...sigh.

The day was tiring in a way--but in a good way, like a hard dasy's work in the garden. Y'know what I mean?