This day began with a thunderstorm.
The advertised hotel wifi hasn't worked since the first day, so I've been sending the blog by sitting on the sidewalk in front of the hotel and pirating a neighbor's unprotected wifi signal -- usually at about 5:00 am. It was a little wet for that this morning, so I parked the car on the canal across the street from the hotel and set up shop. Below is a bit of a self portrait.
Given the unpromising weather, we decided to postpone our bike ride and go the museum route. We headed back to Kate's ancestral stomping grounds in Friesland, about 60 miles to the north. This took us back over the long dike connecting the two parts of the country.
Our destination was the Jopie Huisman Museum in Workum. Huisman (b. 1922, d. 2000) was born in Workum and worked here for his whole career. He was quite prolific, working voluminously in etchings, water colors, and oils. His subject matter largely was old artifacts from the area -- old shoes, clothing, farm implements, etc. He may have taken his inspiration from the fact that his father was a junk dealer. He is the most renowned artist produced by Friesland. Anyway, his work is quite varied and interesting (couldn't photograph any, of course).
After our museum tour, we walked around Workum a bit. Kate discovered a store devoted entirely to the sale of very high class Friesian memorabilia.
Among other treasures, she found a towel commemorating the Elfstedentocht, a 124 mile skating marathon through 11 Friesian towns. The race is held only if the ice throughout Friesland is 6 inches thick or more (15 times in the past 100 years). It's bigger than the Iditarod or the World Cup in these parts. More insight into the genetic origins of Kate's character: It's said that the most moving exhibit in the Friesland Skating Museum is the big toe of Tinus Udding, which he lost to frostbite during his stretch drive in the 1963 race. For me, this goes a long way toward explaining Kate's reaction a while back when I had an attack of acute appendicitis ("Stop whining and get out of bed."). I'm no Titus Udding......
Kate finally settled on the purchase of a stylish hat.
On the way back to the car, I came upon the quintessential tough-as-nails Friesian chick.
We returned home in the afternoon, traversing the long dike for the last time. A nap ensued.
We still had these rented bikes, and the weather had cleared. So in the late afternoon we decided to bike from Edam back to Volendam. It seems we had missed entirely the quaint old part of Volendam on our last trip. We biked through town.....
....biked along the dike.
There's a guard at the entrance to Volendam. It's not clear what he's guarding against, but he let us through.
We wandered through the narrow streets of Old Town Volendam, checked out the correspondingly narrow draw bridges, and came upon more swans and ducklings.
Then it was time to hit the dike road back to Edam (Tired of bikes and dikes? This is our last.)
Saw some cows along the way. It finally dawned on me why European butter tastes so much better. Contented cows. They spend their days wandering through lush grasslands, selecting the tastiest greens to much on, instead of crowding around a grain trough somewhere in Coalinga. Duh.
Re-entering Edam, we passed the house and boat I plan to buy as soon as we return home and I confirm I won the lottery. I was biking at such an incredibly high rate of speed that even the finest camera was unable to freeze the motion.
Once back in town, we stopped at the Harmonie Cafe for some beer and assorted glops of batter fried cheeses. Kate is shown here attempting to display a glop for the camera while simultaneously stuffing another glop into her mouth. We estimate that with our rigorous exercise program each day, we're burning upwards of ten per cent of the calories we're taking in.
This grotesque activity was disdained by an observer across the canal.
After a while, we repaired to our now favorite restaurant in Edam harbor for our last dinner here. On the way I demonstrated that it's possible to negotiate narrow cobblestone streets on a bike in a foreign city after consuming a liter of beer. Piece of cake.
So, it's farewell to Edam, and on the next destination.
The advertised hotel wifi hasn't worked since the first day, so I've been sending the blog by sitting on the sidewalk in front of the hotel and pirating a neighbor's unprotected wifi signal -- usually at about 5:00 am. It was a little wet for that this morning, so I parked the car on the canal across the street from the hotel and set up shop. Below is a bit of a self portrait.
Given the unpromising weather, we decided to postpone our bike ride and go the museum route. We headed back to Kate's ancestral stomping grounds in Friesland, about 60 miles to the north. This took us back over the long dike connecting the two parts of the country.
Our destination was the Jopie Huisman Museum in Workum. Huisman (b. 1922, d. 2000) was born in Workum and worked here for his whole career. He was quite prolific, working voluminously in etchings, water colors, and oils. His subject matter largely was old artifacts from the area -- old shoes, clothing, farm implements, etc. He may have taken his inspiration from the fact that his father was a junk dealer. He is the most renowned artist produced by Friesland. Anyway, his work is quite varied and interesting (couldn't photograph any, of course).
After our museum tour, we walked around Workum a bit. Kate discovered a store devoted entirely to the sale of very high class Friesian memorabilia.
Among other treasures, she found a towel commemorating the Elfstedentocht, a 124 mile skating marathon through 11 Friesian towns. The race is held only if the ice throughout Friesland is 6 inches thick or more (15 times in the past 100 years). It's bigger than the Iditarod or the World Cup in these parts. More insight into the genetic origins of Kate's character: It's said that the most moving exhibit in the Friesland Skating Museum is the big toe of Tinus Udding, which he lost to frostbite during his stretch drive in the 1963 race. For me, this goes a long way toward explaining Kate's reaction a while back when I had an attack of acute appendicitis ("Stop whining and get out of bed."). I'm no Titus Udding......
Kate finally settled on the purchase of a stylish hat.
On the way back to the car, I came upon the quintessential tough-as-nails Friesian chick.
We returned home in the afternoon, traversing the long dike for the last time. A nap ensued.
We still had these rented bikes, and the weather had cleared. So in the late afternoon we decided to bike from Edam back to Volendam. It seems we had missed entirely the quaint old part of Volendam on our last trip. We biked through town.....
....biked along the dike.
There's a guard at the entrance to Volendam. It's not clear what he's guarding against, but he let us through.
We wandered through the narrow streets of Old Town Volendam, checked out the correspondingly narrow draw bridges, and came upon more swans and ducklings.
Then it was time to hit the dike road back to Edam (Tired of bikes and dikes? This is our last.)
Saw some cows along the way. It finally dawned on me why European butter tastes so much better. Contented cows. They spend their days wandering through lush grasslands, selecting the tastiest greens to much on, instead of crowding around a grain trough somewhere in Coalinga. Duh.
Re-entering Edam, we passed the house and boat I plan to buy as soon as we return home and I confirm I won the lottery. I was biking at such an incredibly high rate of speed that even the finest camera was unable to freeze the motion.
Once back in town, we stopped at the Harmonie Cafe for some beer and assorted glops of batter fried cheeses. Kate is shown here attempting to display a glop for the camera while simultaneously stuffing another glop into her mouth. We estimate that with our rigorous exercise program each day, we're burning upwards of ten per cent of the calories we're taking in.
This grotesque activity was disdained by an observer across the canal.
After a while, we repaired to our now favorite restaurant in Edam harbor for our last dinner here. On the way I demonstrated that it's possible to negotiate narrow cobblestone streets on a bike in a foreign city after consuming a liter of beer. Piece of cake.
So, it's farewell to Edam, and on the next destination.
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