Rest day in Willemstad

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After breakfast with the gluten free bread and gluten free granola we had a restful morning in our room. Late morning we ventured out into the heat and walked round some of the remains of the towns fortifications and to look at the marina. There was lots of impressive yachts but I am not sure they were impressive enough to be owned by multimillionaires. The most impressive one was called Dutch Falcon and a Google search confirmed it is a new super yaght but didn't reveal how much it would cost.

Beyond the marina we could see barges, laden with cargo, on the Hollands Diep presumably coming and going from Europoort.



The large white windmill that overlooks the harbour is now a private residence. What an impressive building to live in. I imagine there is a lot of maintenance to do but it really was an amazing looking house.



Early afternoon we walked to Jumbo supermarket to pick up the necessities to have a picnic lunch in our room. The small cafes were all closed on a Monday and we didn't want a full restaurant meal. A little later we had another walk around town and I bought two fridge magnets and two thimbles for mum. I usually buy a fridge magnet and thimble at each rest place but this time they didn't seem to be tourist places except Dresden and we have stayed there before. We also had an ice cream. We then walked out onto the side of the Hollands Diep and sat on a bench watching the barges go past and one or two smaller yachts. We will miss the sunshine when we get home.



Far in the distance we could see the Haringvliet bridge which we will cycle across tomorrow, early in our journey, to get from North Brabant to South Holland. It is 1150 metres long and opens once a week for shipping to pass through.



Our evening meal was in the hotel restaurant again but tonight we were sat inside, whereas last night we sat outside. It was very busy but we were seated away from others. We were talking about the gift of speaking different languages and how we would like to be better. We had built a little rapport with a young waiter so we asked him how many languages he can speak. He replied Dutch and English and a little German. He said he would love to learn Spanish and hoped to go to Soain some day.



All the music we have heard in restaurants, and hotels, is English and there are lots of signs and notices in English every where. A waitress in Strasbourg told us radio stations were allowed to play up to 80% of Englush music every day.

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