It's Not Europe Without a Castle!

 Goededag!

I’m sitting here sipping Duvel in Gelligheid comfort watching the Tour de France final individual time trial while a storm rages outside.  What a great, albeit unexpected, race.

I’m glad to be back in the Jordaan for two reasons. One is that the grocery store is right across the street so I can nip out in the morning for food and drink, stash it, and have it waiting, instead of having to hike out of my way to pick food up on the way home.  The second reason is that I’m much closer to the Centraal Station. As my time grows short, I’ll be taking some bigger trips out.

But today?  A castle!  Because it just isn’t Europe without one!

I was surprised to learn that Amsterdam has a metro system.  I mean with a water table that high why excavate?  But there is a metro.  It is not useful for the historic center.  Trams get the job done, but I intended to take the metro today.  I say intended because when I arrived at the Centraal Station I found that I’d cleverly chosen the starting day of a three month shut down of the line.  The notice in Dutch indicated the substitute bus line they laid on and I quickly found the bus.

Now that last sentence conveys an impression of far greater linguistic talent than I possess.  I know a little German, and Dutch and English have a lot of cognates that are recognizable once one gets used to the use of j as a vowel.  I've been here two and a half weeks and have picked up a few words.  So it’s actually not that hard to read simple notices.  Anyway I just want to say once more how Much I Love The Magic Transport Cards.  Seriously.  They make the traveler’s life so much easier.

I took the bus to Amstel Station where I caught another bus for Muiden.  I was taking a chance on the weather.  There was some light rain, but also large blue patches, so I hoped things would be ok.  It rained off and on all day, but for the most part the rain was light and there was little wind.  When I felt like complaining about the cold I remembered the heat wave in the Midwest and shut myself up.

I got the right stop this time and walked about a kilometer into the town of Muiden on the IJsselmeer.  It’s a small, pretty place, and you can’t miss the castle.  I was there early, so I strolled around.  It was cold and breezy, but the rain held off long enough for me to take a country walk.  I climbed over a style onto a public footpath and enjoyed myself walking along—a canal—what else?--with ducks on one side and a farm on the other.

Muidenslot or Muiden castle dates from the Thirteenth Century and was meant to defend the southern approaches to Amsterdam on the old Zuider Zee.  It was the scene of the murder of Count Floris of Holland by some grumpy barons.  The castle, which has been heavily restored, is just gorgeous.  It was fun to walk along the walls and climb up the towers.  The dark narrow stairs wind up clockwise as usual to put right handed attackers at a disadvantage.  There are a few exhibits, including a good collection of armor and weapons and some activities for kids.  Some older folks (ahem) needed to try out the crossbow (I’m not bad) and pick up the long sword.  Way heavy!  It took real strength to fight with one of those.

Speaking of swords--several groups of young people were out practicing with long swords.  They did not seem to be performers, but just people interested in learning how to use the weapon.

After touring the castle. I took a quick look around the small gardens and then headed out.  The route back to the bus stop is a walk through a lovely park.

My trip back to Amsterdam went smoothly, but no sooner did we alight the bus than it began to drip.  I got my umbrella out and up just in time because it began to pour.  My jeans were soaked even before I got out of the Centraal Station plaza.  It didn’t matter.  I was on my way home and did not have far to go.

I’m going to have spinach and ricotta pasta for dinner with some Trappist Ale.  For some reason the stuff that calls itself Trippel hits my spot.  Now a few people would claim this is a weird combination. They are right but it’s good!

Dag!