After another great sleep in my comfortable bunk, I awoke to another day of bright sunshine. The weather for this trip has been great. Bike shorts, t shirt and sandals have been my biking attire. We have panniers on our bikes in which we carry our lunches and additional clothing such as rain jackets and light sweaters. Sweaters were not needed this morning.
Our first stop today was Edam, known as the city of cheese. We visited a cheese shop, a candy shop and the Edam Museum. Of particular interest in the museum was a painting of a girl who was 9 feet tall. Although I cannot remember her name, I do remember that she could clean the gutters without use of a ladder and that her parents took her to fairs to put her on display to make money. She died at the ripe old age of 17.
We stopped for coffee in Volendam, a touristy fishing village. There were lots of little shops there selling souvenir type things, including t shirts, wooden shoes as well as lots of cheese.
We stopped at a cheese farm where we heard about how cheese is made and also got to taste many varieties of cheese; some from cow milk, some from goat milk and some from sheep milk. Many cheeses in The Netherlands are eaten with mustard and so we got to try a variety of mustards as well.
Our lunch stop was on a grassy slope, just off the side of the road. Here, we sampled the cheeses that were purchased at the cheese factory, starting with mild cheese and ending with very old cheese.
We continued along the coastline of the IJssel Lake and ended up in Amsterdam where we started our trip seven days ago. After dinner we walked to the city centre where we took a canal tour on a canal boat.
Since The Netherlands was playing Spain in a World Cup game tonight, the bars and restaurants were crowded and the streets were filled with people wearing orange shirts. Back aboard The Jelmar, the skipper had set up a screen in the main salon so that we could watch the game. The Netherlands won the game which resulted in a lot of celebrating throughout the city.
We all part company tomorrow morning after breakfast. It has been a great Highlights of Holland Bike and Barge tour with a wonderful group of people. We have experienced a lot and cycled a long way...close to 400 kilometers!
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