After the misery

UIt is now the day after the rainstorm, and the weather is nice again. 

We started the morning in Gorcum, where we explored the small town to see what it had to show. 

Karl in front of the restaurant  where we had dinner last night. 

After exploring Gorcum we took a ferry to castle lowenstein where we took a tour around the castle. 

After the castle we took a ferry across the river and biked up to Vianen where the boat was.

There, we swam in the canal before having a delicious dinner made by the boats chef. 

Biking/ barge trip

Early departure from Amsterdam to Brugge where we are to board our boat and begin a week long trip that has us sleeping on a barge and biking through the country side during the day. 

We were going to cancel this section of the trip because we were worried about all the guests being older, making for a dull trip for the boys. We were so surprised when we found out that  there would be an 11 year old Dutch boy and his mother, the 11 & 13 year old nephew of the captain and owner and 12 year old son of the cook. No over 55 on the boat. But we're are a small group biking. Sometimes just us biking with the Dutch guide. Sometimes two or three more join us. The food is filling and delicious, the barge ( the Feniks) is comfortable and basic - but nothing fancy, the people (all Dutch) are very kind, warm and speak English, and the countryside is gorgeous!!!!

First four days brought perfect warm, sunny weather - great for biking. Wednesday has brought rain and lots of it. Not so fun to bike in and we found the boat early to shower, warm up and put on dry clothes.  

It's our Anniversary today (Aug 7) and we have celebrated Dutch style. They stood and sang us a song at breakfast. Everyone looks you in the eye and shakes your hand, we've been given a gift and a special dinner tonight. They have gone out of their way to make you feel special. So gracious. 

The little towns we have docked at so far are Brugge, Ghent, Goes, Willemstad, and Gorinchem ( all words with the letter G get an H sound that is way at the back of your throat - sort of like you are about to hack something up from the back of your throat.). Needless to say we are really getting a feel for the Netherlands and seeing sights and places that are way off the general tourist track. 

Misery

No photos today; we woke up in Willemstad to cloudy skies & motored up to Dorendrecht. We got off to hear some fascinating Dutch history & a surprise stop to celebrate bill & Suzie's wedding anniversary. So far, so good. But when we hit the road again, the rains started. We soldiered on for 30 Kms in the pouring rain before finally deciding that an afternoon of cards and video games sounded good. We found a water taxi to Gorenchem (pronounced Horcum) & enjoyed an afternoon on the Feniks & a fun evening eating in town. 

Zeeland (for reals)

After Goes, our next ride took us through the heart of "Zeeland," which bore the brunt of the flooding in 1953, which led to the engineering feat of closing several sea arms into the Dutch countryside. Bill took the long route out to the dams:

 It was wonderful weather & a great ride. The family met up outside Ziereksee & rode up to brunisie together. 

The boat continued on to Willemstad, where we had wonderful dinner of mussels on the boat & a great walk around the picturesque town at night. 

Goes

The next day took us from Belgium into holland & the town of Goes. The boys held up remarkably well for two long days in the saddle. 

The ride was interrupted several times,first for mussels in Yerseke (the oyster capital of the Netherlands), then several more times for swimming. All in all, a remarkably fun day. 

Ghent

We spent our first night in bruges; it really is a little gem, but far better early on Sunday morning with less tourists than Saturday night:

Our first day cycling brought us to Ghent, which had an amazing beautiful downtown:

Suzie & bill went for a drink, while Karl & Fritz stayed on the Feniks to watch a movie. 

The Finale - Cycle/Barge from Bruges to Amsterdam

We apologize for the lack of posting - we've been away from wi-fi & unable to keep you updated. After amsterdam, we went to bruges where we met our home on the water for a week - the barge Feniks:  

We explored bruges for a night (no one got thrown off the tower), went to Ghent & explored Zeeland and parts of the Netherlands that don't get much attention. We've had a great time & hope to post a few more updates soon as we cycle/barge around this wonderful country

Delft/Beach

Our final day at our home exchange in amsterdam wasn't even spent in Amsterdam. In an earlier post, we introduced the Strandbeest; it turned that the creator of the Strandbeest was going to show them off at the beach in Schevingen, jst north of The Hague. As it turns out, we had a friend who lives in Schevingen, so we could kill two birds with one stone. Luckily, we managed to get a third bird too by starting the day in Delft. 

Delft, although probably best known for its pottery, has some significant history, including being the home of Johannes Vermeer, Hugo Grotius & van Leeunhouk (an artist, a lawyer and a scientist). Here's the statue of Grotius in the town square

It also hand the hottest canal tour ever:

It had to be over 100 on that boat. Luckily, our next stop was the beach; unfortunately, the heat meant half the country had decamped to the beach & a severe parking shortage. Eventually, we figured out the parking, mainly through our friend Doug, who we were visiting in Schevingen.  After sorting out the parking, he returned to work while we went for a dip in the North Sea. There was no swell, so no surfing, but the water was warm enough to bounce around for awhile. It also had some type of creature that liked Fritz a lot and raised a lot of welts, but they weren't painful & had no real impact. 

Finally, we were ready for the main event & we took off for the Strandbeest demonstration. There wasn't enough wind for it to work perfectly, but it ws fun to see their creator & watch the latest generation in action:

Finally, we had great dinner with Doug at a beach cafe and a late night return to amsterdam. 

Today, we take the train to Bruges for the cycling adventure to begin. 

Final days

Hello! We are now on our final few days here in Amsterdam. Today, so far, we've mostly been tidying up for when it is time to leave the day after tomorrow. We went to a massive flower market, filled with an amazing amount of tulips and other plants, including Venus fly traps and pitcher plants. This market was very interesting to walk through, and we all wish we could have brought some of the plants back, but we can't :.( 

After that fritz and dad went to the museum, which is like a modern art museum. They then went by a candy store, bring back many delicious delicacies! 

Dutch Open Air Museum

Yesterday was another day trip, this time to the Dutch open air museum. Similar to Williamsburg, this is a living history museum, but rather than re-creating a particular era in history, this museum rescues old buildings that would be destroyed & transports them to its site. So, it will have a sheep fold from the southern Netherlands next to a few buildings from a fishing village on the North Sea. 

Here's Karl next to an old beekeeper get-up:

Here are fritz & bill working an old ferry boat :

And a few pictures of trying to ride the penny-farthings:

We thought the boys were too old for playgrounds, but they had a blast getting lost in a maze:

But it all went south when fritz had a few too many spins on the big swing. 

 Hello lunch!

We recovered & Karl got fascinated with the workings of a big wind-driven flour mill:

The day was topped off by a visit with our friend Jeff Littlejohn, who was in town on business:

A long fun day!