It was a great day even if it is still cool and sometimes rainy. We were up at 8:15 and went to breakfast at 9. It was the same buffet as yesterday. Bill is still feeling under the weather, but we left for Gouda (pronounced How-da as in Cow-da here) at 10:30. The drive wasn't bad - only about 17 miles.
We found a place to park on the street, but the ticket dispenser would only give us 2 hours - until 1:10pm. We walked the short distance to the market square which was full of vendor tents selling fabric, clothes, purses, etc.
We first came to the Waag - the weigh house- built in 1667. It was originally used for weighing goods (especially cheese) to levy taxes. On the bottom floor was a small shop selling various cheeses and cheese items - cutting tools, boards, and other small souvenirs.
There is also a cheese museum on the upper floors. We paid $10 for both of us, and a lovely old gentleman led us up a long, narrow spiral staircase to the next floor. He first showed us the original relief that had been on the front of the building. Pollution has taken its toll, so it was moved inside to preserve what remains. A replica has been installed outside. The relief shows a merchant having cheese weighed with the bookkeeper holding his foot down on the cheese side to make it appear heavier.
Our guide then showed us candles for which Gouda is also famous. Who knew? Then he showed us clay pipes and how they were made in Gouda a long time ago. Up on the top floor our guide showed us a 10 minute film on how cheese is made on farms in Gouda. We looked around at old cheese/candle/pipe-making items. Then it was down the back spiral staircase.
We walked through the market square where I got some lovely photos of the stadhaus - the old city hall. This is supposed to be Holland's oldest town hall and parts of the facade date back to 1449.
Just off the square is St John's Church - the longest church (120 meters) in the Netherlands. We paid to go inside ($10 for both), but no photos were allowed. This was a shame because this church has some of Europe's most beautiful stained glass windows - 64 in all. The church started as a Catholic church but became Protestant church in 1573. We could have spent days looking at the windows and listening to an audio tour, but our 2 hours of parking was running out.
On the way back to the car we stopped at the Waag and bought a small round of farmers cheese. Bill wanted to see the Red Lion Windmill which is still in use (since 1727) as a grain mill. Our GPS got us right there with a parking spot. The streets were quite narrow and we never would have gotten there without the GPS. Unfortunately the mill and store were both closed contrary to the info in the guidebook. We looked around, took some photos, and got back in the car to leave. There our luck abruptly ended. Bill backed into a concrete corner of a building and scraped the back bumper of the brand new rental care we were in. Hopefully the insurance won't be too difficult.
We made it back to the hotel at 3. After a short break, we went looking for a grocery store. Tony, one of our hosts, walked us to the corner (I think he wanted a smoke break) and showed us the way to Coop, a fairly good-sized grocery. I was looking for hagelslag - chocolate sprinkles that are very popular here at breakfast. One butters bread or toast and sprinkles on the chocolate. I had read about it before we left home, and it was on my list of "to try". I had it this morning at breakfast, and it was pretty good. It is much better than the chocolate sprinkles in the US. At the store there was a large area with all brands/sizes/packages of hagelslag. I got several boxes for Xmas presents. I love going to grocery stores in foreign countries. One can learn so much.
At 6:30 the sun was out so we went for a walk to the Witte area where Tony had told us were lots of pubs and restaurants, sort of like the East Village in NYC. On the way next to the architecture museum was a green grassy fenced in area. I had to look twice to believe what I was seeing. On the grass were some sheep statues, but right next to them grazing away were at least a dozen real sheep. I have no idea what that was about. We ended up at a Vietnamese restaurant called ViVu. It was small, lovely, and almost full. I got 3 of my favorite Vietnamese dishes: Vietnamese iced coffee, summer rolls, and a small bowl of pho. It was all delicious and made me homesick for Hale Vietnam in Honolulu. The pho was quite a bit more spicy than usual, but it was a good thing. I actually finished my small bowl of pho which I never am able to do when I get a regular (huge) bowl. Bill got the regular bowl and couldn't finish his.
We walked back to the hotel in the rain. It stopped just as we arrived back. Holger and Barbara arrive tomorrow. We hope to take the canal boat to Kinderjik to see the windmills there. The boat leaves at 2:15, so we will just hope they arrive early. We are excited about seeing them.
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