To market, to market...

It is always lovely to catch up with old friends, particularly on a nice day out. Last week I met an old friend at the station and we went to a town about an hours trainride away from here. It is in the south of Holland, Den Bosch, and it is a gorgeously relaxed town. Originally I hail from that part of the country, and I always feel like I am at home again when I am there. People really are a lot more open, relaxed and friendly around there.
They also make a lovely cake there, called Bossche bol, which is basically a giant profiterole to be marginally rude about it. It is a real speciality of Den Bosch, and they make them nowhere better than there, particularly at one bakery called Jan de Groot. The thing that always make me smile is that he obviously has his marketing down pat as well. There is a little tearoom attached to the bakery which is always chock-a-block, but in all the other cafes that serve his Bossche Bollen as well it is either advertised outside or specified specifically on the menu that they come from his bakery... there is someone who understands his trade. Anyway, as ever, the first thing we did when we arrived was have a cup of tea and a cake, we both skipped breakfast that morning in view of this, now, there is dedication for you.
My friend had made a long list of all the things she wanted to get, so after our cake we set out to do some serious shopping. First we went to the market...
This is a gorgeous market, really quite big and well laid out. There are always loads of plant and flower stalls, and fruit and anything else you can think of.
We had a look at the cathedral and strolled on to the main square next to that. We then discovered that there would be a Tattoo that evening and all the bands that were taking part were having a march through the city that afternoon. That was a real surprise, as we both love brassbands and show bands. As a teenager my friend used to play in one and I just adore the sound of brassbands. So, we abandoned our shopping plans and had a look at all the bands, there were a few quite special ones there. Unfortunately we could not stay till the evening, otherwise we certainly had done so. However, we will go to the military Tattoo in Breda in October. I have never been, and she is just very glad to have found someone who will gladly come with her, as she does not know anyone else who likes things like that.
So, we learn something new about our friends every time we meet up with them, and that is just truly lovely. They open our eyes to new things and make the world really a richer and more interesting place. I love it when things like this happen and when people are flexible enough in their minds to just throw plans overboard and do something different from the original plans. We had such a lovely time!
Hope your weekend is not too windy... it is blowing like mad here again...this is a glimpse of what happened to the poor trees in our neighbour's garden after the big storm we had a couple of weeks ago, more of that in a different post.Enjoy your weekend!