Tuesday/Wednesday, July 28/29

Tuesday: We started the day with neighbors, Margaret and Andy, coming over for coffee. This is the first we had seen them this trip. They lived in Alberta, Canada when Andy was working and we talked a bit about where Kees and Joke had been traveling. 

Later we decided to drive over to Spakenburg to see a ship that I had been told about. It had just been restored and put back in the water. It had originally been built by the Nazi, Goering, during the war. It has sailed to Florida in the past. Well, I was expecting a large "ship", but what we eventually found was a large version of the traditional working boats that line the Spakenburg harbor. A single mast, but much taller than the surrounding boats. We walked past it twice and Linda had said she thought that might be what we were looking for, but I wanted a larger ship. I think crossing the Atlantic in this would be quite a feat.

As you might expect from the Germans, the woodcarving was detailed and beautiful.

And then this lovely bear on the tiller. It reminded us of our visit to Bern, Switzerland, in 2007.

Spakenburg is a fishing town and here I am with a fisherman and his catch.

It seems that every time we go to Spakenburg, I am in the mood for fish and chips and this trip was no exception. Since it was not market day, it was easy to find a place to sit and eat. We chose a place down by the information office, close to our ship. 

We shared a raw herring with onions and a large order of fish and chips. They are served with mayo and a really good tartar sauce. We ate all the fish and drank all of the beer and left some of the chips.

I guess we liked the herring. It was all gone before we thought to take a picture of it.

Linda tried this beer with a touch of lemon in it and really liked it. It tasted like a really good English Shanty.

And the only regular beer they had was this Heineken, a Dutch beer, and it was just fine.

The town is very picturesque.

We walked around a little searching for something to take back to Doug. Its easy to find things for girls, but guys are harder. And, don't you know, we found the perfect thing, but I'm not telling.

This is where many days end.

And this is in the kitchen. 

Wednesday: Another rainy day, so it was an excuse for a slow start. Eventually, we walked downtown to do some shopping. We stopped at Lenscrafters and the owner fixed Linda's sunglasses. The pin had come out of one of the hinges. He told us his family lived in Alberta and he was getting ready to leave for a visit. What a coincidence.

This is where the Queen's Tree was before the storm. Its all gone now. And, it was very large.

Its late July and notice how she's dressed: sunshine but a bit nippy. But don't get us wrong, its just fine, sweater weather for a good portion of the time we have been here. Nothing like what much of Europe and the US are experiencing.

The bag is from the Rijksmuseum.

Back to the house for a really great lunch/dinner: fried calf's liver with bacon and onions, fried rice also from the butcher, and a salad that I fixed. All yummy.

It started raining again and we stayed in for the rest of the day.