Enchanting Edam

We keep thinking we have seen it all, done it all - in and around Amsterdam. And then we found the enchanting village of Edam.

Edam (yes, as in the cheese and to pronounce it correctly, it is Ay-dahm) is in the province of Noord-Holland. It is about a 15 minute bus ride from the Central Station, if you are on the fast bus. If you are on a bus that stops every 45 seconds or so, it takes a bit longer. Not a problem, the countryside is beautiful to admire.

Although it is fall and temperatures remain in the 50's during the day, the wind is mild and the sun has been shining for most of the last week. The leaves are beginning to change and the remnants of beautiful summer gardens were still apparent as we took a leisurely walk through the village. In addition to the gardens, there were many windows dressed with plants and small objects. We peeked into open curtains for a look at the daily lives of the locals. (Actually Nancy is the voyeur, I didn't peek)

Edam's claim to fame is, of course their cheese. This small village does not appear to cater to tourists or play up the cheese angle. There are cheese stores, a cheese museum and the cheese market. We wandered into the store but did not bother with the museum.

On the recommendation of the tourist center we went to De Fortuna

http://www.fortuna-edam.nl/ for a late, leisurely lunch. We sat by a window, next to a canal. While we were enjoying our lunch there was a brief rain shower. A guy came down the street to raise the drawbridges to let a large boat pass.

A walk around the town took us to Groete Kerk (Big Church). We wandered the grounds, through the cemetery. Some of the headstones dated back 100 years.

The bus on the way back to the Central Station was the SnelDienst (fast route) and did not make many stops. We were back 'home' by about 7:00 pm. Allen, the apartment manager and a South African native stopped by for some last minute travel advice for Cape Town and a visit.

Tomorrow morning, the day that I've been waiting 7 years for finally arrives! We head to South Africa! A brief (7 hour) stop in London, lunch with Uncle Mikey and Auntie V and then we are off!

If we do not post often while we are gone, it is for lack of time and bandwidth. I'm sure we will have a lot to say when we return!

A brief aside....thought I was being so smart this morning making my oatmeal (havermout). I read the directions 250ml - water or melk, add 6 eetlepels (tablespoons) of havermout. So far, so good. It cooked, it looked like oatmeal. I added some brown sugar to the top but wait....that wasn't brown sugar, it was uncooked rice. Nope, didn't misread, just grabbed the wrong package. MMMMM.....crunchy rice on top of my hot cereal. Good thing the Senseo coffee machine & I are getting along well!

As always - pictures are posted at this link -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14356799@N06/collections/72157622432557149