Last day visiting the small towns

We woke up early to drive an hour and a half to Waterland, a small town outside of Amsterdam where the Brubakers were staying to meet them for breakfast. We are so glad we did. Waterland ended up being a highlight of the trip. It was a tiny little town on some lakes and canals and cobblestone streets and it was really nice. Each home had really nice yards and the Brubakers were staying at a bed and breakfast (where we were to meet them).

For breakfast we sat out on a table on the grass a couple yards from the pond. The temperature was perfect and setting was great. We had a yogurt parfait with kiwi, mango, passionfruit, pineapple, and bananas and then fresh squeezed orange juice (real fresh squeezed orange juice), hot chocolate, and about five different breads with

three different cheeses and a couple meats. It was great. Plus, it was fun to visit with mom and Loel and the Brubakers and there was a really cute black dog that sat and played near us.

After breakfast, we spent the entire day up in the northern part of the Netherlands, above Amsterdam. Our first stop was Edam a small town known for its cheese. It was a pleasant little town and for two months during the summer on Wednesdays it has a cheese festival from 10:00 to 12:00 noon. They had a group of people in the center of

town reenacting the cheese market from years ago, it was fun to watch. We walked around town tasting different cheeses (pesto cheese was a favorite), got some gelato, and then left for our next town.

The next place we stopped was Volendam, a small fishing village on the ocean. There were more people than expected but it was fun port town with a rocky beachfront. There were lots of small fishing boats in the harbor. We walked around the main part of town peaking in and out of shops – eventually Em bought a Holland apron (surprisingly she doesn’t have one) that has pictures of windmills on it.
The last town that we wanted to see was Markum. It was across the bay (I think) from Volendam and also was a small fishing village. An interesting aspect of Markum is

that all the houses are a darker green color with white trim. It was fun walking through the town and peaking in different people’s yards. Of course there were some pretty canals lining the streets and the center of the town was the harbor with various fishing boats and small café’s and shops. It was a really fun place to visit.

Our last stop on our way home was not a town but a series of 19 windmills along a canal. The place is called Kinderdijk and many people visit to get a picture of the windmills. We were glad we went as it was by far our best view of windmills. We


didn’t stay to long – mainly walked along the canal snapping pictures of the windmills – kind of fitting for our last day in the Netherlands.
Overall it was a really fun day. We loved how each of the towns we went to the past
couple days had their own unique feel. They each were really old towns with small


houses and gardens – we had never seen anything like them before.