Woke up several times during the night attempting to keep the tent up and dry – kept it up but not dry!

It is the end of the day now as I write this. The kids are in bed –finally after causing problems and not going to bed (their usual routine). We are in a campground not on any list, guide or map. We found it by chance. People that are here are all Dutch pleasant but not very friendly. They just seem to tolerate us Americans. Theresa struck up a friendship with a little boy right away that couldn’t speak english. But they go on fine for a couple of hours. Aren’t kids great! The other 3 were not as fortunate, the spent most of the afternoon fighting and playing. An interesting thing happened in this campground. I started up the Volkswagen so we could use the air pump to pump up the air mattress for the tent. It made a lot of noise. Guess what happened, the camp owner came over and asked us to turn it off and to not make so much noise! So we did.

Making friends

Had dutch pancakes for dinner made from a mix that Marsha had bought in Gouda. They were heavy but eatable. Campground is out of Gouda on Reejeekee lake. It was hard to find, but a nice spot. We camped under a willow tree.

By the time we got to Gouda this morning the market was over. We missed it by 15 minutes. Roozboom told me market was from 9:30 to 10:30 am but it was from 9 to 10 am and we got there at 10 am. The market square was big and empty. Dad did a good job of telling us what was supposed to happen there. Spent most of the day looking around Gouda. There were a couple of farmers still there; they were selling cheese and a street market was going on. These farmers did not sell to individuals but to wholesalers so we couldn’t buy a wheel. The very old scale house (built 1668) was still in use. In fact they still use the old scale. An interesting array of shops at the market but the most interesting part was the fish! There was fried fish, smoked fish, and raw fish for sale. Lots of herring ready to eat, raw or pickled. To eat the herring, it was dipped in a number of flavorings, onions, spices, etc. The herring was then eaten on the spot. Cheese, cookies, fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, you name it and you could find it.

I can now understand why the Dutch have so many windmills, the wind blows here constantly. Plus it is chilly in Holland it hasn’t been warm since we arrived. Filled the stove tank with lp gas today – finally! Just one more thing to get working and that is the refrigerator. Will probably have to wait until we get to Germany to get it going. Also got the tent up properly today and it looks twice as big.

Goodnight!