Day 3 - Antwerp, Kinderdijk, Den Haag, Rotterdam

Goedemorgen! We are officially leaving Belgium today but not before a quick stop to Antwerp, known as the diamond capital of the world and the location of the Cathedral of Our Lady or Onze Lieve Vrouwekathedraal, I'm so happy I don't understand a lick of this language...can I get a vowel please haha...anyways it's the largest church in Belgium and Holland. The tower itself is 403 feet tall and contains a belfry with 47 bells. Although Antwerp is Brussels second biggest city it still has a small old world feel when you are in the old city centre. We picked a quaint cafe and had a cappuccino and practically fell asleep we were all so beat, that's until Danielle found a disco ball and started an impromptu dance that sparked us back to life. We were interested in checking out the much talked about church, however when we came to enter, there was a charge! I've been to the Vatican and they don't even charge you there, I could believe this church was charging people for to enter a house of prayer...capitalists!After a quick stroll around the city and some much needed postcard purchases, it was goodbye Belgium, Hello Holland. We like to refer to Holland as Danielle's people since she's blonde. This excites us a lot more than it does Dannie, but she's a great sport. Our first stop was Kinderdijk, a minut blip outside of Rotterdam. The reason for our wondering was a UNESCO World Heritage site where 19 massive windmills have stood tall and proud since 1740. These mills were once used to scoop up water and then transfer it to a local river.

We found a little trail off the beaten path and walked down to get a closer look. What was fascinating was that people use these windmills as their homes and there are huge gardens and animals in the grassy marshes that surround the site. We of course made good friends with a local goat. Upon proper introductions, the goat decided to give Jenna's foot a friendly nibble, this threw her into such a frenzy she stood up, lost her footing, fell down again and almost ended up in the marsh on the other side. Quiet the excitement for us and this poor old goat.

After our 'women who stare at goats' escapades, we headed off to Den Haag which is the judicial seat of the European Union and a very commercialized city. We headed right past the big buildings and got lost in the suburbs of the diplomats. It was so fun going from house to house trying to spot a sign or a flag indicating which embassy lived in which mansion. Once we finished parousing the streets of near royals we headed to the beach as Den Haag is right on the coast of the North Sea.We grabbed some candy by the pier and headed to the waves. After sticking exactly one toe in the water just to say we did it, we entertained ourselves for a good hour dabling in a little sand are and scripting messages back home to our friends and family.Our accommodation for the night was a business hotel back in Rotterdam, we decided to have a picnic dinner in our room and stopped in Gouda on the way over. It was about 8pm and the streets were baron but there was a nice square and wonderful rounds of cheese hung across the alleyways as streetlamps. We came across the last open market and headed inside to be pleasantly surprised by a young man at the cheese counter who spoke perfect English! He has studied abroad on the east coast for a semester and his enunciation was impeccable. He helped us make only the best selections and we ended up getting some great Amsterdam cheese as well as 48 month aged Gouda. We headed to our hotel and layed our gastronomic findings of the day... the cheese, salami, prosciutto, French bread, tapenade, olives, and beer.

Nathalie - I need water

Jenna - No, you need beer

Danielle - Beer is water with hops so you're cool!