Today Toni, Mike, Alejandro, Cassie, Sierd, Marion, and I took to the canals of the Hague to enjoy the gorgeous weather and tour the Dutch food scene. Here's a short post to share a few photos from our casual afternoon paddle. For an approximate route map, see this previous post. Today involved eating/drinking Dutch food interspersed by some kayaking... On the menu were patat oorlog ("war" fries, which have peanut sauce with mayo and quite a politically incorrect name, as I learned today), patat speciaal ("special" fries with mayo and curry sauce), kroket (deep-fried hotdog-shaped gravy stick), meatballs wrapped in bacon, tiny pickles, and beer. Over drinks we pondered mysteries of US grocery shopping: why do a cucumber and 5 muffins both cost $2? Why are red peppers so much more expensive than green? and much more... Short post today since I'm running behind a bit! :)

My alarm went off at 7am on Sunday. At any other time of year, getting up would have been a challenge. Thanks to the long days that the Dutch latitude (52 degrees) bestows us, it was palatable. In what's becoming a weekend routine, I strapped my lunch and dry clothes on the back of my bike and swung a sizable duffle bag of kayak gear over my shoulder. It always takes a bit of extra effort to get the bike moving when it's loaded down this way. But thanks to the lack of topographic variability, the 12 minute bike ride to the kayak club is easy once you're rolling. Some aspects of Dutch life just need reframing to see the bright side.