Today was awesome! I told you yesterday we were going to Amsterdam today, but we're actually going there tomorrow. Today we went to Gouda, home of the famous cheese market.
We drove about an hour, and then parked near a canal. That is one thing we haven't seen in a Dutch town so far: Gouda, like Amsterdam, has a lot of canals, which I think is really cool. A lot of the railings along the canals had flower boxes of red flowers, which really added to the quaint atmosphere created by the old buildings, cobblestone roads, the canals, and the bikes. Unlike Nijmegen, where we were yesterday, ALL the buildings were old and adorable instead of just some.
We walked through the adorable town until we got to the town center, where the market was. First came the normal market, where you can buy fruits, vegetables, baked goods, clothes, etc. We bought four chocolate croissants, four cheese croissant thingies and a cinnamon scone for a total of three euros! Awesome!
The market was centered around an old building that I think was the town hall or something. We made our way around it to the famous cheese market. There were rows and rows of huge cheese wheels. Women dressed in traditional Dutch costumes were walking around with a plastic cheese wheel bucket, inside of which were cheese samples. I had a total of three today. More traditionally-clad men and women were participating in a folk dance on the balcony of the town hall, which overlooked the cheese market. There were also stands where you could buy those adorable but uncomfortable wooden shoes that are traditional Dutch.
After the cheese market, we just explored the streets of Gouda. It was gorgeous. I think that the canals are so interesting and something that I personally don't see in towns. People were on bikes or on foot everywhere, and there weren' many cars. I kept closing my eyes and imagining me in Park City, then opening them again and embracing how different it was from home. We found little courtyards with old trees, houses as narrow as a closet, bikes picturesqely leaned next to a railing with red flowers, and lots of other things. I think I would have no problem living there :) When I get back to my grandparents's house, I'll definitely have to do a big post full of photos like my friend Rose did on her blog since I can't upload pictures here! And trust me, there are a lot of them! But Netherlands Photo Finale doesn't sound as good as France Photo Finale... Hmmm.... ;)
After walking around the gorgeous, fantastic, adorable, quaint, awesome, lovely, beautiful, and so on and so forth town of Gouda, we began the drive back to our house in Naarden. On the way we drove through a city whose name I don't know, which was also pretty. It wasn't as cute as Gouda because it was a city with a lot more cars, but as far as cities go it was awesome because of all the old buildings and green space. It was nothing like New York, I can tell you that much! :)
When we got home, Erin and I checked out a new playground on the other side of the moat. We found an awesome tree perfect for climbing and walked along the side of the water.
Today it hit me, not for the first time, how lucky I am to get to see places like Gouda. It is just so absolutely different from the United States! I know that not everyone gets to see places like this, and I am thankful that I get to. It changes the way I see the world and gives me an appreciation for other places. Thanks to my mom and everyone else who made this trip, and all our others (like Germany every year) happen!
German word of the day: Käse. Pronounced KAHY-zuh. It means "cheese." I think in Dutch it's "Kaas." Don't ask me how to pronounce that! ;)
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