Netherlands July 17

We met up with Linda and Sara and left the hotel mid-morning, hoping to miss projected early rain. It was much easier to get around with Sara doing the navigating. Since she is at least partially familiar with the Netherlands, it might be easier, but in part it's because she is relying on a bike touring book. It is still a chore and she has to hold the book in her hand as she rides, because there is nowhere to put it. Hopefully tomorrow we can tear out some pages and place them in a seal-able bag.
 There was a witch weighing house in one small town (Woerden, I think). If you weighed too little, you could fly and thus were a witch. We ate lunch at a sidewalk cafe, scarfing yummy sandwiches, and I tried to buy a raincoat at a bike shop. Only problem is that many stores will not accept my credit card, because there is no chip in it. I had managed to get a card without a foreign transaction fee, but alas no chip.
Some prankster had cut apart a pair of rain boots and put them on the feet of a statue of a girl. Pretty clever, since they had to make laces up the backs.  It was really a double take moment, before you realized they were not supposed to be there.

Along the canal, boat traffic moved in both directions.  Some appeared to be commercial, but most was recreational. At intersections, there were still old streets signs, though many were very low and difficult to see.








 Gouda is laced with canals and often the front yard is accessed via a bridge across one.












We stayed at a B&B in Gouda, which has small quaint rooms. Mine is on the third floor and has almost a ladder rather than a staircase, it is so steep. We grabbed items from a grocery for "dinner" and tasted some of Linda and Sara's Old Cheese, after walking around town a bit.






Here is the view from my rooftop window (the window is similar to the one on the house across the street)

One of the rooms was large enough to accommodate a table at which we could all sit.