To the Klokkenspel

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Here we are........back in Pella, Iowa........having made our way down Franklin Street after leaving the Vermeer Windmill corner:

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This tall, square brick building is the Pella Opera House. I especially liked the round window designs.

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Now we're gazing up at the Klokkenspel.

Notice the row of bells on top:

I believe the bells chimed every quarter-hour. At the top of each hour, music box songs would play, heralding the appearance of four important figures in Pella's history........this one happens to be a Dutch lady. (Read the paragraph below to find out who this lady is and why she is crying.)

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HERE IS AN EXPLANATION OF THE FOUR PELLA HISTORICAL FIGURES DEPICTED IN THE KLOKKENSPEL WINDOWS (found on this iExplore travel webpage):

"Klokkenspel: Anticipation mounted in our small group of onlookers in front of the brick facade and decorated neck gables of the Pella klokkenspel. Some had seen it before and assured those who hadn’t that the figures would first emerge from behind the curtained glass on the north side. Sure enough, at 1pm sharp, the Dominee (pronounced DOE-muh-nay) Scholte (the sch pronounced with one of those impossible Dutch guttural G’s that sound like you’re clearing you’re throat), Separatist founder of Pella, reverent in glasses and wisp of a smile, baptizes an infant in a long trailing Christening gown. Act two in the window to the right: dark-haired Dominee’s wife Mareah breaks down in eternal tears, grieving the loss of her fine Delft blue china broken in transit from the Netherlands. She holds a broken piece of Delft in her left hand. Luckily the hanky she holds in her right hand is a large one. After Mareah’s tears have been spent, a youthful blacksmith pounds forever on his anvil, representing the work ethic of this community. Shades of the Wild West! – it’s Wyatt Earp – this famous lawman spent some of his boyhood in Pella. He’s cleaning his Winchester rifle in the last window of the north-facing klokkenspel."

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These archways below the Klokkenspel lead into a lovely courtyard beyond:

Beautiful scenes made of Dutch tiles adorned one side of the courtyard. Notice the S-shaped bench........like the Dutch letter pastries! (The "S" stands for Sinterklaas......the Dutch Santa Claus.)

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On the opposite side of the courtyard was this shop window displaying Dutch souvenirs.

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Where are we headed after this?

Find out next time!!

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