Day 10

Today we headed to the Gouda market to sample the delicious Dutch cheese! We started the morning off with morning tea with the "oldies" in the tea room at the complex we're staying at while we waited for Ineke's brother, Fred, to arrive. An hour after the organised time, Fred and his wife Rose showed up. They were great fun! The instant Fred saw me he called be "Tippiwan" (a crazy asian woman in the Dutch equivalent of Sex in the City) and that became my nickname for the rest of the day.

We drove out to the Gouda in two cars with the ladies in one and the men in the others. It was a beautiful morning for walking around outside at the market. As we were walking through one of the streets that led to the market square we found the most awesome lolly shop in the world where Steve stocked up on his Dutch licorice.

Refuelled on sugar and salt, we continued on our way to the market before stopping again 50 m down the road when we came across.....a Cheesary!

Needless to say, Steve was in snack heaven. We strolled around the market for a bit and then wandered through some of the streets of Gouda to enjoy the atmosphere. We sat down for a drink in the sunshine and did some people watching before heading to Fred's place for the evening where we got absolutely stuffed with food and drinks. They had a jacuzzi and as the evening wore on, we got tempted to take a dip. As you can see, Steve did. I just stuck my feet in.

Once the sun went down we moved inside and continued the festivities until late before the long drive home again in preparation for another busy day...