Gouda

Brent and I looove cheese so of course we had to visit the infamous town of Gouda. Most people pronounce it "goo-da" but it is actually pronounced "how-da". In the US, most Gouda cheese is smoked and it tastes nothing like the real Gouda cheese. The real stuff is amazing! But of course all the cheese here is fantastic, it can't be beat. We went on a Sunday so it was rather quiet, but that almost made it better because it seemed as though we had the town to ourselves!

Even the decorations were cheese!

First we went to the Gouda museum where we got to see the history of Gouda cheese and how it is made. The guide was this cute little old man who didn't speak a word of English. He was funny though and took us through the whole museum all in Dutch. Since it was all in the context of cheese we were able to figure most of it out. It was fun that it was just Brent and I though.

The Gouda cheese museum


Me and our museum guide and the old weighing system

In the museum they sold fresh Gouda cheese. We bought a little wheel and then I wanted to take a picture of the ladies working there but they insisted I come behind the counter and have Brent take a picture of me there. As I went back and picked up a wheel of cheese, a little boy that had just come in with his mother, saw me go behind and so he came back too! He tried to pick up a wheel as well and it was so hilarious.

The initial picture, me behind the counter


Laughing at the boy


Mum rescues the boy! Too funny.

We walked around the town a bit and saw a few other streets and buildings that were interesting. There were cheese shops everywhere (more than in most Dutch towns) and it was great! Good times in Gouda!

I'm a cheese lady too!

Katwijk (again)

The last time I went out to Katwijk (the beach near us) I lost my camera. So this time I held onto it tight (Brent's) and have some good photos! It was a gorgeous day and this time we followed the signs correctly and it was only 6k each way on our bikes instead of the 26k we went last time! I took my wetsuit with me hoping there would be a chance of surfing, but as you can see there were no waves at all. Sad! But I still love the beach so I don't have too many complaints.




On the way back from the beach, we came across a nice little farm with cows and a perfect picture spot. We stopped and not too long after standing there one of the cows came up to the gate. It was amusing at first and we took a few pictures, but then the cow started head-butting the lock on the gate. We decided not to stick around to see how intelligent the cow was so we hopped back on our bikes and rode home!


Me having a staring contest with the cow. He won.


The picture of us was taken from my bike seat, hence Brent's cutoff head!

Delft: More than just Pottery!

Last weekend, Brent and I decided to go to Delft for the day. Delft is famous for its pottery, an intricate blue and white style (a rip off from Chinese pottery that then became known as Delft pottery). We anticipated a couple of hours looking at the town and some pottery then head home. However, when we arrived in Delft we found out it was Theater Weekend and there were all sorts of festivities going on!

Potter's hand and some bikes dredged from the canal

The first attraction was right outside the train station. It was two guys dressed in suits dancing around an old soviet-style car. There was some music on and they were doing an interpretive dance of cold war era CIA secret agent getting Russian intelligence type of dance. It was awesome and by far the best interpretive dance I have ever seen.

In the main center there were all sorts of attractions: magicians, dancers, singers, sculptures, etc. While walking down one of the streets, suddenly around the corner came a group of people dressed as big bugs. Some were even on stilts! They were running away from the "exterminator". It was interesting and a bit creepy too.

One of the oddest, but coolest things, was a guy on in-line skates with a jet pack on his back. Yes, a JET PACK! He raced down the streets with a loud roar coming from him. You'd never be able to just rock up and do something like that in the busy streets of the US. Gotta love it.

We also discovered that Delft has awesome markets! In Leiden our markets are pretty much just produce with some clothes and etc. stuff but Delft has an array of antiques and really cool trinkets. I got a fun hat, a clog thermometer for my Dad, some cartoon puppets for the nieces, and a cool Frangelico set of Monk and cups for Brent's Aunt. It was so fun to walk through the markets and see all the stuff.

Loved this guy at the market in clogs!

We printed out a map and took a walking tour of the sights of the Dutch East Indies Company. It was based out of Delft so there was a lot to see! We some of their individual houses, the storing house, trade house, headquarters, etc. It was really interesting and nice to throw a little history in with the day - I always like that!

The trading house of the Dutch East Indies Co. and us at the Princenhof

When it got dark (which isn't until after 11 pm here), the main show was put on. It was an opera type of thing. I can't really say because there were too many people for me to be able to see. That is the one drawback of living in a country of gigantic people! I did get to see one thing, which was definitely the best part of it! There was a crane set up that raised the "clouds" of the performance. They danced around in the sky while suspended from the crane and went through the seasons. It was certainly entertaining and a great way to end a great day in Delft!

No Pictures...

Unfortunately, I lost my beloved camera a week ago with some fun pictures on it. I loved that camera and now I have to scrape up the money to get another one. I'll be using Brent's in the mean time until we get back to the US (no way am I going to a buy a camera in Euro). His isn't as good as mine, but it will have to do.
Last week, Brent's friend Trevor came to visit again from his army base in Germany. It was fun to have him again. We rented a row boat to cruise through the canals for a few hours and that was a blast. It was a bright sunny day so we enjoyed lunch in the boat and had an interesting time maneuvering under the small bridges. During my turn to row, I was going through a very skinny canal and was approaching a boat that was "parked" (no people). Brent tried to steer me by yelling out in boat terms ("steer port side!") knowing full well I had no idea what he was talking about and I think you can figure out what happened :) Just a little bump, no scratches or damage, but it sure was funny!
The next day we decided to ride our bikes out to the local beach, Katwijk, only 6k away. I had ridden there last year so I figured I could find my way there again as navigator. The three of us hopped on our bikes and enjoyed the flat journey which soon turned into a very long journey when I finally realized I didn't know where I was going. By the time we got home, what should have been a total of 12k, turned out to be 26k! Some navigator I was! But Holland has no hills so it was still a very nice and easy ride. There were some surfers out so I watched them enviously and then we had some snacks at a snack stand, about which time I apparently lost my camera.
It was a fun weekend and we are planning on visiting Trevor and his wife (whom I haven't met yet) for the July 4 weekend on base in Germany. We're looking forward to some American treats!