Holland & Belgium Viking River Cruise
Day 9: Saturday, November 02, 2024 - Dordrecht and Gouda, Netherlands
The day's statistics:
- Weather: upper 50s, overcast
- Steps: 11,909 Linda; 12,939 Steve
- Miles traveled (approximately): 82
The breakfast buffet includes a chef making made-to-order eggs.
While Linda usually had the egg benedict for breakfast, today she went with the egg white omelet with "all the
vegetables". I asked her why she didn't leave some vegetables for the others...
We ate with Joan and Jim from RI.
We awoke back in The Netherlands.
At 9:00 was our Historic Dordrecht tour with Lizette "Liz".
We disembarked, gathered, and headed into town, walking along the harbor area first.
On the other side of the harbor were some nice residences, as well as this church with the "eye of God" on it
(does it look a little familiar?).
This house has a little naked boy as part of its facade. The story is that when the royals were visiting the area
one time, a loin cloth was placed temporarily placed over the boy.
Most harbor access bridges are full draw bridges. This one is a little different.
Under normal circumstances, the smaller vessels can just go under the bridge. The sailboats, on the other hand,
are a little different. However, rather than draw the bridge and stop all traffic across it - pedestrian, bicycle,
or vehicular - a small section of the bridge is opened for the mast, and most traffic can continue.
(The section that opens is immediately above where the pylon is that has the red and white warning sign on it.)
Continuing on.
Toward the end of the street above was a music shop that sold albums, book, and even Monopoly® games with music themes.
At the end of the street, we turned left, and continued on.
We eventually arrived at this park that had built-in benches in a format symbolizing a paper torn in half as the two
sides of the benches are in a format that if they could be pressed together, would fit.
On the other side of the part was Cinema De Wit, which was in a garden area. And on the other side of the garden was
the Kunstkerk museum.
We exited the garden area, turned left, then right, a headed to Arend Maartenshof - a public housing facility that used
to be a religious commune - that was on the left. It was an enclosed facility with a large courtyard in the center.
The center was across from the Leonardo DaVinci school.
We continued down the street, turned right, and in the open space in the next block was an open air market.
At the beginning was the fish market, and the stalls further on had more items.
Our route took us past the Statue of Ary Scheffer, a prolific Dutch painter.
We continued on to the tour guide's headquarters. When we stopped, we had access to restrooms, and a small
gift shop. Our group was the first to arrive, but before we left, there were three or four at the spot.
We had some free time for about a half hour, but we chose to just hang out in the general area and chat with
fellow travelers and peruse the shop.
One item for sale was a triple-brew 9% alcohol Dutch beer.
After our break, we continued down the street, passing some shops too.
Near the end, Liz stepped into a chocolate shop, Olala Chocola, and brought out some samples of
white, milk, and dark chocolate for us to try.
We crossed a bridge and passed City Hall.
On the other side of the bridge, down the canal a little, was this mural.
We headed to the harbor area whence we came.
A store on the street with the flags (pictured above) had this sign in their window. I had an idea what it said when it
was taken, and translation confirmed the first half, but I was off a bit on the second. It reads:
"No dogs allowed." ~ Hans the shop cat.
Our path took us in a loop and we saw the church with the clock from another angle (and eventually another, and
then another). And then we found ourselves at the end of one of the inner harbors, walking away from the
church.
In this sort of situation - which is considered "acceptable" - the residents of the outer vessels are supposed
to cross the inner vessels fore (at the front), because the living quarters at aft (at the rear).
And continuing along the canal.
This old ship was named after Pieter Boel, the famous painter, printmaker and tapestry designer.
And just past the ship.
Before departing the main residentail structure area, one item we heard about were the facades. They weren't all vertical.
The reason is similar to what we saw in other Dutch and Germany towns - the upper tiers are built out a little, for tax
purposes, and later a facade was added to the front connecting the multiple floors, but angling outward a little.
We finally finished our walk among the canals, and arrived at the river, and the confluence of three rivers: Oude Maas (to
the left), Noord (ahead), and Beneden Merwede (to the right).
And nearby was the Groothoofds Gate.
We couldn't continue directly along the river as there was a waterway entry to the canals here. So we had to pass through the
gate, into the town, make a left, go over a bridge, make another left, and then we could finish our stroll to the ship.
By 11:45 we had to be back on board as we were headed to another port - Rotterdam.
Lunch was a little earlier today due to the afternoon schedule.
We headed to the dining room. We sat with Elanor and David from Alexandria, VA.
We were given a market fare sampling today.
Linda had roasted tomato soup, chicken club sandwich, and vanilla ice cream.
I had mixed green salad, farfalle al salmone affumicato, and appelflappen.
The dining room was a little light on attendance today too. Maybe there were a good amount of passengers participating
in the all-day Historic Dordrecht & Delft excursion.
During our meal, there were a couple interesting sights out the window.
The ship docked about 1:30.
This afternoon's excursion was Historic Gouda & Stroopwafel.
Gouda is pronounced "how-duh" with emphasis on the 'h' almost as if one is clearing their throat of something.
Today's guide was Marcel.
En route, we found another gas station with gas at $7.22 per gallon.
And a couple sites on the way.
Similar to what we saw in Dordrecht, this draw bridge is a little different - though that could be a function due to
its size. But in this case, there is lift at one end that [assumedly] just picks up the other end to open the bridge
rather than having both side open.
That's... a lot of bikes.
This is the old royal guard house.
After about an hour drive, the bus parked on the other side of a canal, and we headed into town.
We first came across an old government building.
We walked further into town, eventually turning left by a cheese making shop adjacent to a canal.
This shop had a flat bottomed boat next to it that was oriignally used to carry canisters of milk.
On the way down this cross street, a bit past the cheese shop was an old Jewish cemetery for the Jews that
lost their lives in WWII, and an orphanage for boys and girls.
Our journey took us past Saint John Church - though we didn't go inside - which is the longest Gothic church
in the Netherlands at 135 meters.
In a small parking area near the church was this cute little pink Figaro car.
Across from the church was this old apothicary, as designated by the figurehead.
And elsewhere in the immedaite area.
After leaving the vacinity of the church, we made our way to city hall, which was situated in the middle of plaza.
Supposedly there was nother "near" city hall because there was once a fire that destroyed city hall - but didn't originate
in city hall - so when it was reconstructed, it was done so the building was isolated so that couldn't happen again.
The Christmas market in the plaza around city hall was in full swing.
After departing the plaza, we headed to Van Vliet Stroopwafel.
We learned about the family history of their making stroopwafels, and were given a demo of how to make them.
And then we each made one. There were three cooking presses set up, and we were given enough balls of dough,
and plenty of caramel center, for everyone in the group.
I recorded Linda making her's.
And me making mine.
We shared the one Linda made - 25/75 - and took the other one back to the ship because Hulgar said the night
before, during the port talk, that he wouldn't mind if someone brought one back for him.
Admittedly, we don't know if he really meant it, or it was a joke that backfired. But he got one nonetheless.
It would have been too much for us to eat, anyway.
To make the stroopwafel, put the dough in the press and cook it for 35 seconds. Remove and cut the cake horizontally
in half. Pour a generous amount of caramel in the middle of one half, cover with the other half, had press the filling
out to the sides. Let cool a little. Eat and enjoy.
After nearly an hour watching, making, and eating stroopwafel, we returned to our walking tour.
We headed back to the plaza and city hall.
In the plaza was a Dutch street organ called a De drie pruiken. I didn't have too much time to record too much of it, but this makes the point.
We walked along the left side of city hall and to the other end.
In the other end of the plaza were some vendor tents that were already closing for the day.
Across the street from this section of the plaza was an old cheese weigher's building.
And looking around.
We returned to the shop where we turned left when we entered the city. At this point, we were treated to
a gouda cheese tasting. We had a total of about six different cheeses. Only one of them was not that great,
but the rest were really good.
While a number in our group were purchasing cheese, Marcel told us that if we wanted to, we could either walk to the
end of the street by the canal and wait for him, or we could go all the way to the bus if we knew the way. Linda and
I walked down there and there were a number of travelers waiting. I asked "Doesn't anyone want to go to the bus?"
A few people responded that they would. I said "Let's go." So we started toward the bus.
We passed a Lego® store.
Someone commented that I didn't quite look like a Viking guide. So I held up my empty hand as if I was holding
a tour guide lollipop.
We arrived safely at the bus, boarded, and awaited the rest of the travelers.
We drove back to the ship and it was getting dark and darker, already, so the photo ops were minimal.
After dropping our items off in the room, freshening up a little, hanging out in the lounge for a little
including the port talk, we eventually made our way to the dining room.
We sat with Debbie and Rick from TX; and Krista and Mike from FL.
There was no menu tonight as it was a "Taste of Holland" buffet - there is usually one "Taste of" night
on the ship and we have only had "Taste of Germany" in the previous five cruises.
The food was really good and plentiful.
There were some appetizers - bread, cheese, fish - on the table when we arrived, and then we enjoyed the rest of the foods
that included soup, frites, beef stew, breaded fried shrimp, and more.
Tonight was an hour or so of scenic sailing.
The ship was piloted through the waterways of Rotterdam. Some images may be of the same sight, but from a different
angle, lighting / exposure, or different color (some of the light changed colors).
I did the best I could with night shots on a moving ship.
And I took a picture inside the wheelhouse too.
Not long after returning to the cabin we washed up and went to bed.