G-OW-DA

 Tour Date: June 26, 2019  [Click on photo to enlarge]

Well, that's how it's pronounced, apparently.  Today was a "stay" day off the bikes, so we got a local guide, "Bep," to take us around town.  She was a little academic, but friendly and very knowledgeable.  We are in Gouda, so cheese is everywhere.  Note the rounds hanging over the street.  We saw these all over town.  Yes, the girls love cheese.

 One of the stops was at the Weighing House, built in 1668.  Carved reliefs show the process of the weighing, including the not-so-subtle efforts to tip the scales.  Note the left foot of the seated man is on the left scale, while the hand of the weights man to the right is pulling down on the rope on the other side.  The building today houses a museum dedicated to the cheese manufacturing process.

At the town hall in the main plaza a wedding was underway, with a very cool escape car waiting out front.  Love the basket!  The wedding party was quite happy to have tourists and townsfolk watch the proceedings.

All around Gouda there are these marvelous carvings over entryways and sticking out of walls.  It would be fun to make a serious effort at cataloging all of them, but these were just a few that caught our eye.

One of the big attractions in Gouda is the Church of St. John, the longest in Holland, and boasting the Gouda Windows, the biggest collection of 16th century stained glass in Europe.  I couldn't get the right lighting to show off the windows, but they were stunning.  I nicked this one off the internet:

We'd had enough walking around for a while, and it was time for lunch.  Right next to St. John's is the Museum Gouda, which has a very nice courtyard cafe.  Loni & I shared a nut bread/cheese/fig jam sandwich and a slice of carrot cake.  Yes!

Suitably tanked up, we hit the Museum, which was an eclectic mixture of objects.  We each found something fascinating.  Loni liked the pencil drawings, I went for the scientific stuff, and the girls were wowed by the minerals.

After the museum, we decided to call it a day.  Loni's back is hurting badly.  One more archway pose, then back to the hotel for a nap.

 After some Z's, we connected with the family for a pizza dinner on the main square, followed by a gelato fest for dessert.  Another fine day!