Kathy, Anne, Amal and I took the tram to Centraal Station.

We walked about 10 minutes, dragging our suitcases behind us clattering on the brick and found a place to wait to meet the barge. Or so we thought.

However, we were not in the right place and decided to try the other location some of us had in our info packets. Eventually we found our barge, Clair de Lune.

After one more round-trip walk for me to find the last two members of our group – who had taken a taxi to the correct dock, but I didn’t know that – we assembled in the salon. Pietr (red jacket) will be our cycling guide.

We settled into our cabins. Small but comfortable! I have a double bed, others have twins which criss-cross at the feet, one bed being higher than the other.

We motored out of Amsterdam and left the big city behind. At a canal-side stopping place, the bikes were unloaded (10 e-bikes and 4 bikes not). All bikes had been labeled with our names – a good idea because they all look alike.

Our first stop was Spaardam – the home of Hans Brinker. There are so many bicycling paths all labeled with arrows and mileages to the next destination. We stopped at a church in the country

where, Pietr told us, a giant had once lived. He was about as tall as Pietr (6’3) but his arm span was much wider – to the gray rectangles (where he was chained, for thumping people on the head but that may have been a joke by Pietr).

Dutch bikes take a while to get used to. The seat to handlebar space is narrow and the front stem is quite long. You sit up quite tall as you pedal along.

A newly-built windmill to replace the one that burned down.

To say the least, it’s COLD and windy. We are all bundled up.

We took a circuitous route to see more of the countryside before entering Haarlem, then it was a matter of finding where Clair de Lune was able to dock. Today was our short riding day, 10 miles.

There are 12 in our group + Dominique and Francois from France (front left table). Back left: Kathy, Anne, Amal, Sharon. Front right: Marsha, Cheryl, Jane. Back right: Rupert, Jeorgianna, Barbara, Lee. Almost time for dinner and we are all hungry.

Especially delicious, the Creme courgette (cream of zucchini soup):

After dinner, we walked into town to the square.

A wish fulfilled. Anne really wanted to see the house of Corrie Ten Boom, one of her favorite authors.

The town was quite alive with people in restaurants, enjoying late dinners and drinks. However, our group was happy to head back to the barge and tuck into bed. **Note to Tom (Anne’s husband): So sorry I’m a bit late in this post. There is no wifi below deck so I prepped all the pictures but had to wait to finish in the salon the next morning. Thanks for keeping me on my toes!

It did snow last night, this morning it was quite cold and windy. We all put on more layers to stay warm. As we walked to our morning destination, we spotted two adults having a snowball “fight”.

Today’s main event was a food tour in the Jordaan district – previously a slum, today just the opposite. Our tour guide from Eating Europe was Aileen – she did a great job.

Our first stop was Cafe Hegeraad for coffee and Dutch apple pie.

Next, was Vishhandel (fish market) for raw fermented herring with onion and pickles – yuck, at least I tried it –

followed by battered deep-fried cod – delicious!

Lots of walking today.

As we walked from place to place, Aileen shared local information and history and pointed out things that a person might not ordinarily see like this wire sculpture high on a post at a canal crossing. The artist of Mermaid Bubbles is anonymous.

Anne, Kathy, Cheryl, Amal, me. Not in this picture but part of our group was Jane and Marsha.

At JWO Lekkernijan, we tasted Gouda cheese 3 times, each one aged a bit longer. The final sample was paired quite well with a sweet nutty tidbit.

Then we tried two types of sausage:

Another great story from Aileen as we stood beside what used to be the Lindengracht canal. You can read about the Eel Riot of 1886 here: https://www.24oranges.nl/2016/09/11/the-eel-riots-of-1886-ended-with-26-people-and-1-eel-dead/. What isn’t mentioned in the story is the final punishment for the Eel Riot was filling in the Lindengracht canal. It is now a very wide street with a grassy area in the center.

This is one of many “charity houses” in Amsterdam now converted to apartments. This one was for widows. The entrance leads to an inner courtyard.

Our next stop was Swieti Sranang for a sample of chicken satay, a traditional food from Suriname by way of Indonesia. Suriname and Indonesia were both Dutch colonies. People from Indonesia were sent to Suriname to work as “indentured laborers”.

On to Tom’s Bread and More for stroopwafel:

Our final stop: Cafe ‘t Small.

Another typical Dutch food: bitterballen – a ball of beef gravy with a crumb coating and deep-fried –

and a glass of lemon brandy, traditionally poured into a tulip-shaped glass and filled to the very top forcing the consumer to bend over to take the first sip.

You’d think that would have been enough food for the entire day, but no! After walking more streets to look at shops – including a stop at The Tulip Museum and shop –

and dropping off our purchases at the hotel, we went around the corner to a bakery to pick up something sweet and then had dinner at

Full tummies and tired legs – a good night’s sleep is assured. By the way, this food tour was one of the best I’ve ever done. The price was quite reasonable, the tour lasted almost 4 hours and there were 12 tastings. Aileen was an excellent guide.