Dutch Cheese Tour Part Two

Leiden, Gouda, Delft, Rotterdam

I spent most of the double-decker train ride to Leiden staring out the window. The land is flat, like parts of Texas, but there are definitely some distinct differences. Even in winter the grass is very green and all of the fields are littered with canals and marshes. You see wild, giant swans and storks wading through the grass, occasionally stopping to pick something up of the ground or out of the water. Every once in a while we would pass a cute little village in the distance. At one point we passed a small lane that honestly had a line of chickens crossing it at the same moment we drove by (I was tickled by this).

Leiden from the Brucht

I arrived in Leiden much sooner than I had expected- all of the cities look further apart on the map than they are in reality. I met up with my friend Josta, who I stayed with and we had a tea. She had some work to do that afternoon so I entertained myself by walking around the town. Leiden is not very big, known mostly for its university. Like all Dutch towns, it is riddled with canals and surrounded on all sides by rivers. As it was Sunday, not much was open, but I walked through the old city center and up to the Brucht- a citadel/fortress erected in the year 1150. I believe it is the highest point in Leiden and provides nice views in every direction.
I also walked through one of the city’s only remaining windmills, which showed what the living areas would have looked like and explained in detail the mechanisms and uses of the windmill. (Fun fact- the first known windmills were built in the Middle East around the year 700 AD. The crusaders brought the idea back with them, making various changes throughout the years).
I also walked through some of the neighborhoods (again looking in windows from time to time, I promise with non-creepy but strictly academic curiosity) and then down to the University. Since it was a pretty chilly day, I hid out in the University library long enough to let my fingers thaw out.
When I met back up with Josta she informed me that we had both been invited to a dinner party in Rotterdam. I bought a bottle of Spanish wine and we hopped in the car for a (surprisingly short once again) drive. When we arrived we discovered her friend Vera’s boyfriend (who is Indian) had invited several guys that were visiting from India that he had met that day, as well as a guy from Germany/New England (Maine and Pennsylvania I think) and another Dutch couple. All in all, we ended up being a very lively bunch!

After a delicious dinner, someone noticed one of the tapestries hanging on the living room wall depicted a traditional form of Indian stick dancing. This led to a massive group lesson in the dance, followed by the viewing of several bollywood dances on youtube with everyone doing their best to imitate them. After these we all demanded to be taught a traditional Dutch dance so a song featuring an accordion was played while we all jumped and stomped around. Texas was up next and I decided on a fairly easy line dance, although I did explain that the Two Step was the REAL Texas dance. The weird German/American guy then played some crazy German techno and we all awkwardly watched him rave for a few minutes. Then Josta saved the day by showing us a very hearty dance she had learned in South Africa. By this point we were all laughing so hard at each other that everything we did became progressively more and more ridiculous. This may have been my favorite night spent in The Netherlands.

I found this picture on a
Dutch Cheese website

Kaaswinkeltje

The next day I continued my Cheese Tour, catching an early train to Gouda. (Fun fact: The Dutch pronunciation of this town is “HOW-dah”, with a guttural H. I said it with the correct local pronunciation as often as possible but no one seemed impressed all day.)

Kaaswaag
Cheese Weigh House

Gouda is very similar to Edam (although not as precious- nowhere is!) and equally known for its cheese market. The markt centers around the town hall and cheese weigh-house (Kaaswaag), not to be misidentified because of the large relief on the front of the building. As I strolled through the streets and around the canals I passed several cheese markets and stores, but the BIG ONE was called Kaaswinkeltje. This store, I am sure, has a second location in Heaven.

There were literally mountains of cheese piled up, each kind with a little dish of sample cubes. All of the walls were also lined with giant rounds and there was a large (for lack of other words) trough of some of the fancier and international cheeses. Besides those, all of them were locally grown in South Holland, mostly on small farms. Some particularly interesting ones were the Old Gouda, the Gouda with walnuts and a bright green Pesto Gouda. I probably had 15 different ones in my hands at one point but finally had to narrow my selection down to three: a middle-aged Gouda, an old Texel, and another one that was just a young, local one. I also bought a small wedge of Manchego for Josta.

Even though I was far from starving after all that cheese-sampling, I hadn’t eaten a decent breakfast so I decided to stop for lunch. I picked a small place right off the markt and ordered a very typical ‘pannenkoeken of appel’. It was a giant pancake, with apples cooked into it pepperoni-pizza style. It was served with a kind of syrup and powdered sugar. Verdict: very tasty, but not overly flavorful.

Markt, Gouda

After lunch there was more walking around. I noticed that the canals here seemed to be deeper than in some of the other cities, with larger boats in them. After covering most of the town and quite a few shops I decided it was early enough to hit another town before returning to Leiden.

Blue Ceramics in Delft

I hopped on a train to Delft, a small touristy town on in the southwest of the country known for its white and blue ceramic pieces. I walked immediately to the markt, one of the largest I had seen, and then into a few of the ceramic shops. I then found a little old man that was selling antique ice skates and we chatted for a good long while. I took the long way back through town to the train station and then headed back to Leiden.
Josta and I had previously discussed making a traditional Dutch/Texan dinner that night so I stopped of at the grocery store to pick up some ingredients. I have been buying quite a few of my meals at grocery stores, but whereas before I was just looking for something that looked tasty and inexpensive- it turns out shopping for specific things can be very difficult in a foreign language. I did the best I could, but was not overly optimistic about a Texan dish with no jalapeños, cilantro and some sort of unidentified meat. Back at her place we started cooking, her methodically chopping potatoes and I improvisingly throwing things into a pot. We decided to call the meat I bought ‘chicken’, and (like always) I started with a base of beer. Luckily enough, she had a very nice selection of spices so I was able to get a good flavor going.
We ended up with Stamppot met Endives- a kind of mashed potato dish mixed with endives and a gravy and ‘drunk Texas Cheesy Chicken’, named such due to the noticeable flavor of beer. We were both pleased with both dishes and celebrated our success with some natural apple juice (unfiltered, as good, if not better, than the apple juice I was obsessed with in Austria) and strawberry custard.

That night her Welsh roommate Rhys invited us to a jazz bar (it was ‘improvisational jam night’) where we met up with a group of his Greek friends. I ended up getting into a very interesting political debate with a guy named Leonidus, who had some very strong opinions on the use of violence to send a message (he was pro, I was anti, claiming that at that point it’s more than just a message) and then the age of societies in relation to each other and a whole lot of other things. When the three of us got back to the house we turned on the television and I was introduced to Orangetv- a network that continuously plays really low-budget, overly cheesy Dutch music videos. (Imagine a very ugly older man playing an accordion in an old-fashioned dentist chair). I was an immediate fan.

Rotterdam Marina

The next (even colder than the previous) morning I said goodbye and hopped on a train towards Rotterdam. Rotterdam isn’t (in my opinion) a particularly interesting or pretty city, but known as The Netherlands’ ‘second city’, having been entirely rebuilt after being bombed completely in the Second World War. It is also known for its untraditional modern architecture and wild nightlife. It does however still sit on many canals.
My interest in Rotterdam was actually a small town to the south called Kinderdijk, known for the 19 windmills throughout its fields. (Built around 1740).

Waterbus to Kinderdijk

After checking into a small hotel I walked down to the harbor and caught a series of waterbuses to Kinderdijk, where I planned to rent a bicycle and explore the windmills. I stopped on the way to buy picnic supplies. Unfortunately, the entire town seemed to be closed and there was nowhere to rent a bicycle.

It was also so cold and windy that I barely saw another human being as I was walking down the paths in the windmill fields. If you don’t believe me, I can prove that it was so cold that all of the canals were FROZEN over. I passed on the picnic because I was sure that if I stopped I would also freeze into the wilderness and become part of the scenery.

Eventually I turned around and caught the first bus I could find back to Rotterdam. I ended up taking a very hot shower to thaw out and having my picnic in my hotel room. (It was a pasta salad with carrot balls- that’s right, they don’t have carrot sticks, they have carrot balls- and some large almond cookies that are very typical of that part of the country). I have to admit that I wasn’t brave enough to face the cold again that night and spent the rest of the evening watching Dutch television and snacking on cheese.


Random Netherlands Observations

• The stereotype of the Dutch is that they are very blunt, which I was able to notice firsthand on more than one occasion. I've also noticed that a lot of decorating tastes lean towards stating the obvious.
•Nobody wears sunglasses. I didn’t see a single pair during my entire trip- maybe it’s a seasonal fashion here?
• The Dutch toilets have a little ‘reflection ledge’ inside the bowl so you may ‘ponder what comes out as carefully as what goes in’.

"Should we walk to church today or ride the bikes?"
-"Nah, let's just take the yacht"