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.