Day 5: Amsterdam to Enkhuizen

Today started quite slowly partly due to the persistent rain outside but also as we decided to take advantage of the 11am check out and have a slow morning getting ready to head off on the next leg of our journey which is in Enkhuizen.

Thankfully the rain stopped about 5 minutes before we had to walk to the train station and then it stopped in Enkhuizen just before we arrived, our timing was impeccable. Rose & Maikel were waiting for us and it was great to see them again, they have made us feel so welcome in their home. We also met their new cat, Pucky, who we have made friends with immediately. Rose made us some lunch and then we headed off for a drive to Hoorn. Hoorn is not far from Enkhuizen and also the town where my Opa is from.

Before I get into our activities in Hoorn I must mention Maikel's new car. It's an electric car and it sounds like the Netherlands is advancing quite quickly with regard to setting up parks where these cars can be charged up. He gets about 150 miles from a full power up so this is fine for driving around the Netherlands however we would need to power up the car during a drive just between Loxton and Adelaide. The car is really comfortable and has a fair bit of grunt but I'm not sure how I would go driving on the right hand side of the road. I have often wondered why it is that English countries such as Australia drive on the left and the rest of the world on the right. I would have thought the Romans when they were building roads all over Europe and England would have dictated what side of the road everyone should travel on. I will look into this quirk of history later, but anyway I digress.

We walked around Hoorn taking in this beautiful city, its harbour and the Hoofdtoren (a 16th century tower) and made our way to the Roode Steen (the main city square) where we visited the Westfries Museum. This museum tells the story of Hoorn during the 17th century, at the beginning of the 17th century Hoorn was one of the most important cities in Holland and became wealthy because of trading with almost every country in the world. Hoorn was one of 6 Bases for the Dutch East India Company. I have also learnt that after Amsterdam and Haarlem, Hoorn is the third monument city of North Holland, so we have now visited all three this trip.

After our visit to the museum we had a drink at the bar across the square. I should mention that the weather cleared up this afternoon so we were able to enjoy some sunshine while sitting at the bar as well. After a bit more walking around, including seeing the shop Rosemarie works in we headed back to Enkhuizen, taking the tourist route as we drove along a dyke seeing some wind surfing along the way. We also visited the supermarket in Enkhuizen, I love visiting supermarkets around the world and looking at the differences of what is on the shelves.

Rose cooked us a delicious dinner of sauerkraut, sausage and a bake she does with sweet potato, mince, bacon and cheese. After tea we walked around to Riets and Jan (Rosemarie's parents house) where we shared a strawberry cheesecake. It was great seeing Reits and Jan again and we are going back there for tea tomorrow night, apparently for kroketten, can't wait.

Anyway, it's time to head to bed, it's 11pm and the sun has only just set. We have a bit of a tour planned tomorrow and then we head into the city of Enkhuizen to enjoy a jazz festival that is on this weekend. I'm really looking forward to that.

Tot Ziens.Okumaya devam et