Today we decided to rent bikes and tour the countryside. First we biked through downtown Edam.
Then we biked along the dike (a different dike, in a different direction from yesterday's dike).
We passed whimsically decorated farm houses and idyllic farm scenes.....
After a while, we decided to strike out for Oosthuizen, wherever that was....
We passed through more lovely villages, and saw what is so far the only functioning old fashioned "Dutch Windmill" we've seen. We've seen hundreds of the huge, modern kind wherever we look in the Netherlands.
We biked and biked some more.....
We arrived in Oosthuizen, wherever that was.....
More biking and biking.....
More idyllic farm scenes......
Goodbye Oosthuizen.....And then it hit us. We were, um, lost.....
We asked a passing motorist how to find Edam, and (we think) he said "Left, Right, Straight" in Dutch. Looking down the road, we could see "straight," and "right," but "left" eluded us. It was looking discouragingly like the road in Sweden that had led to several attack dogs. But we forged ahead.
Along the way we saw a horse that Kate mistook for a baby rhinoceros......
A swan with her ugly ducklings,
And several lovely ponds draped with weeping willows.
Don't think the trip was without its hazards, though......
Finally we found solid evidence that we might someday again find Edam:
And at last we were back in town, riding by our very hotel.
After a good lunch in town, a nap.
Then it was time to bus back into Amsterdam to see the Anne Frank Museum. We had bought tickets ahead, so we went directly to the Fast Track door. There we joined a group for a special presentation by Hans, the docent. It was very interesting. Hans asked several questions of the group, like "Does anyone know the names of the people who helped the Franks while they were in hiding?" Kate was the star pupil. The only person who volunteered answers. Then it was time to go in to see the exhibits and we were asked for our group ID's. Turns out this was a special group and we had come to the special group door. It was a very interesting presentation, though.
No cameras were allowed inside, and I didn't feel like cheating. It was a moving experience to inhabit the actual rooms where Anne Frank was confined, and to see the story depicted. Outside, I photographed the carillon tower, the bells of which Anne could hear from the Annex where the family hid.
Then we walked to Herengracht, a street that was hyped in one of our tour books. Perhaps we're jaded by now, but it didn't seem to be a terrific landmark. There WAS a good example of what happens after a few hundred years when you build tall, heavy buildings on sand, though.
Finally, we headed for Central Station and bussed back to Edam. On the bus, we played our little game of "No, give Me the camera."
A good dinner at the restaurant in Edam harbor, and to bed.
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