We had a wonderful morning of bike riding and this afternoon we are on the barge going toward Antwerp.

So many gas plants, refineries and barges in this two hour trip.

We walked in to an IceCream parlour and we’re charmed by these three lovely kids.

I ordered crème brûlée ice cream and John ordered Hazelnut and then asked the kid what he would recommend to add to it for two scoops.

His friend comments how the other guy hates IceCream.

The IceCream hater asks if we are from America. No, we are from Canada.

He remarks the other friend in the IceCream shop is from Montreal. I say, we are from Toronto. He says with this shear joy “ That’s were Drake lives and home of the Raptors”.

The group of the IceCream serves decided that John should have Chocolate Nutella with his Hazelnut IceCream.

So delightful

After our day of biking, we ended the day with the arrival to Bergen Op Zoom. This is another fortified city that was instrumental in the Dutch securing their separation from Spain.

The boat and barge company organized a tour of the town at 8pm, which seemed too late to actually see anything. So we ditched the crowd and headed off to the city center shortly after we arrived to look around.

It is typical Europe with beauty around every corner and the old mixing with the new. We walked in and they had singers in the main square which just made the ambiance.

We stopped for IceCream as we walked, and peaked here and there and eventually had dinner at a Brasserie.

It was such a perfect evening.

Biking with 38 people is sometimes an adventure by itself. I can be a let’s get going people kind of perand John as well.

Today, we were off to a slower start. We started with a walking tour around Willemstad.

Willemstad is named William the Silent, a nobleman and the forefather of the current king. In 1500’s he fortified the city of Willemstad and joined the Dutch resisters against the Spanish occupation of The Netherlands. He fought against the Spanish for 18 years and was declared a traitor and eventually assonated.

He was known as the Prince of Orange and his bloodline remains the king.

It is 52 km today. Again mostly bike trails with the odd slow car.

The countryside as beautiful and lush as yesterday. we biked over dike walls which was interesting to be up high and still flat land.

This is our first real day biking. And I made it! I was a bit anxious about how well I would do, I don’t really bike in Toronto. I do walk and do Pilates…but wondered would this be sufficient?

Today, we biked 57km through towns and fields. It was so lovely. I made it! I really did okay. I shouldn’t be so shocked, but in the back of my head…yikes.

We biked in two groups of about 19 people, there is a person in the front and one at the back that is from the tour group. Our guy at the back is Don and he and his wife Sharon are from California. Sharon gave me tips and encouragement. Great job, you are doing great, I would hear from behind me. She gave me the tip to keep looking ahead when you make a turn and after a first few failed attempts, I made it! I channeled my inner 13 year old who would ride to another small town to play tennis on Sundays.

We travelled mostly on dedicated bike trails and I found when we are on the road with cars, the cars are very slow so you don’t feel endangered.

I smelt the air of the Netherlands, I saw the fields were they raise their crops and animals and saw their canals and saw their history. So fantastic to have this experience.

On the road

We are staying at an eccentric hotel. I keep telling John it is haunted, in reality it is stepping back in time to the 1920’s. I love that it is a bizarre maze to get to our room and that we still haven’t found our way to the main staircase and that there is a bench in the elevator.

So much wonderful stained glass

There are other people on the boat as well.

Seems like a full trip. Wonder who are the weird and crazy ones. Will it be John and I?

There are 12 people from Canada and then they went around the room and 29 of 38 people are from Canada. From across the country.

Seems like some people trained to go on this trip. Yikes, should I have ridden a bike?

Oh well, off I go. Did a test run, I was only mildly pathetic…I will survive.

We went to Gouda at the end of our “what makes The Netherlands” tour.

It is a more tourist town than Delft and completely charming. Yes, Gouda is the name of the cheese. That is the generic name for all cheeses made in the area. The cheese was bought and sold here, from what I heard from our guide, a robust tossing of the cheese was also done.

Gouda is also known for Stroopwaffles. They are the hard waffles with syrup in the middle. Yum.

Gouda also has the largest church in the Netherlands. And by large, we mean ridiculously large, it takes up the majority of the city core. It was one of those churches were they just kept adding on to it. When the Reformation came, they built beside the monolith the more reasonably sized Protestant church. I wonder if the then Protestants, were bitter and resentful of the enormous Catholic Church they had also built or were they just grateful to get out from this brute of a church. Not all is lost, the Enormous Church, does have some of the most beautiful stain glass windows. Both old and contemporary.

In the middle of the city square is the very delightful town hall.