Willem met us at the station and took us our hotel via a nearby windmill which he wanted to look at. It was proposed that he and Alex would pose in front of it in their wedding gear the next day.
Liz, Stephanie, Liam and children Neve (nearly 3) and Roland (nearly 3
months) had got themselves an apartment closer to the centre
.
Gouda (pronounced hoowdah) is a very pretty canal based town see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gouda
Later in the afternoon we were all taken out to his parents farm about 15min drive out of Gouda.
The have about 70 Holstein cows which they milk to make cheese (Gouda of course) three generations of his family have lived there. At this time of year the cows are in sheds with some space to walk about.
Cold and wet so we ate at the hotel and did not go the Gouda Christmas festival where they light up the Market square with candles and sing Christmas carols
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gouda_by_Candlelight
The morning of the wedding dawned and the weather was fine but cold. It was to be a 1345hrs celebrant wedding at the Town City hall, this is a very imposing building as it is in the middle of the square. Built in the 15th C it now only used for wedding and receptions. See first link above.
We all arrived and were given a flower for our lapel, these had a magnet so that they could be 'pinned' on with no trouble
. About 60 people, only us relatives from Australia but several of Alex's European friends came form Germany and the UK. Willem has a brother and sister so they and their families were there plus of course his friends.
The ceremony itself was mostly in English however they both answered 'Ja' to the wedding vows. Leith had been asked as a witness which meant we were sitting at the front, so had a good view of proceedings.
Afterwards there was wedding cake and nibbles with champagne.
Later that afternoon about 50 of us were invited to the wedding dinner. This was 5 course meal one course being family Gouda cheese which was very nice.
Some lovely speeches by the bride and groom
We finally staggered home (in taxi) about midnight.
Next day was a late start, dryish but cold day.
The rels were taken on a tour of the Kinderdijk organised by Willem
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinderdijk
This was wonderful array of 19 windmills built around 1740 to drain an area.Each mill could raise the water about 1m. Today the area has been given world heritage listing, there is one working mill which is open for the tourists, others are not turning since the area is drained by three giant Archimedes screws.
Lunch at a restaurant/pub where I had a flambe toasti This was not burnt toast but a toasted sandwich with spicy meat paste filling
.Very nice it was too.
We were to go to Brussels this day (~3hr train trip) but had to postpone
a day because there was a General Transport Strike in Brussels. All
planes and trains were stopped so we had to have an extra night in
Gouda.
I had an easy morning reading the Alex Puzo book 'The Sicilian" which I found at the bar. Leith and the others went on a 2 hrs walking tour of the town. Gouda was foundered in 1272 so it has some history and some interesting buildings. I did go out in the afternoon with Leith showing me some highlights while it was not raining it was quite cold and of course was dark by about 4:00pm
The next day (Tuesday) we finally left for Brussels, 20 min trip to Rotterdam then a 2 hr trip to Brussels Central Luckily our trains tickets were valid for two weeks, but we did have to pay for the Monday night in the Brussels hotel - at least it was ready for us when we checked in about 1:00pm
So please go to the next blog
The Wedding
Friday, December 12, 2014
Gouda, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
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2025-02-13