Sunday, May 31

The other day, Kees drove us over to the town of Edam. This is one of our favorites and we seem to visit it at least once every year. They were advertising a special event for today called "Piano Wandeling". After doing our normal thing of sleeping in and eating breakfast, we headed out. We were still getting used to the Garmin GPS and while Linda played with it, we missed our turn. Not to worry, Linda pulled out her iPhone and guided us through the country and into Edam. We found a parking lot and a great space very close to the center of town.

We walked over to the information center and got some details on the music offerings. There were 24 sites around town, each offering some type of music. You could just wonder around and sample any of the offerings. Some were in galleries, cafes, and shops. There was one in an arboretum and one in a church. 

The information center also had some merchandise and Linda had to have a tulip scarf that was very Holland. 

It was still early for the performances so, we sat at a cafe in the 61 degree, overcast weather and had an espresso and tea. 

Across the street we could hear some jazz starting up.

Starting at 1:00, we began our walk around town.

Jazz guys in an arboretum.

Flute player and organist in a chapel.

There was also a classical pianist in an art gallery. We wondered around while the guy played and found some really weird paintings. A gentleman came up to us while we were discussing some of them and told us they were illustrating Dutch nursery rhymes. He told Linda that he and his daughters painted them. She said, "Right". But, yes he did. 

After a few more, I was hungry and we found a bar with a menu in English. We're easily impressed. It was a sports bar and had a soccer game on the giant screen. Linda had a burger and I had chicken satay.

Did someone say it was cold? The temperature was in the low 60's, cloudy, a little breezy, and misty. Not a great weather day but we were inside most of the time.

Look - they have a dart board and beer. How about that?

She discovers an apple cider and it works for her.

The service was slow and therefore, lunch took longer than expected. After we finished, we only had about 10 minutes before the performances were over. We found a flutist and pianola player down the street.

The day finished with a performance of Canto Ostinato in the town church played on 4 pianos. If you're not familiar with this piece it is composed of very few notes which are repeated with different emphasis. We were in the back so we couldn't see the players but, it seemed that the piece started with one piano and then others came in later. 

The church was packed.

We were able to drive home rather quickly. We got the Garmin working just fine and only encountered a small traffic jam near Soest.

It was a really good day with terrible weather. We had a good time.