We could hear the music from the festival off in the distance until about 11 pm, but we all apparently slept well. We left at 8am heading into a large river with several barges moving in all directions. After a while, we turned into a much quieter canal which went through park land. There was nothing to see in any direction!
Early morning hazy sun as we leave Gorinchem
Cloudy day
Heading into the the canal going through park land.
Some scenery we passed along the way (this and next 4 pictures)
Going through a lock (and next pic)
We traveled about 2 hours until we reached the town of Heusden. We found our marina easily and tied up at an outside dock. Then Adele and I went in search of the reception area so we could check in and pay for the night. It's usually in a small building right near the entrance to the marina. Well, we walked all over, up stairs, down paths, through buildings that lead out of the marina, everywhere you could see! Finally I gave up and called them. They were in a little hut that you literally couldn't see till you were right in front of it!
After checking in, we immediately had to go to another marina nearby to fill up with gas, and then went back to our marina.
Gas dock
The view pulling into our marina
Next it was time to go explore Heusden and have some lunch! We walked up a street which was right next to the marina, and found a cute place where we had an excellent lunch!
David's ham and cheese toasty
Adele and I had salads with chicken
We wandered in and out of different stores, and then went into the visitor's center. I met a very nice gentleman who worked there named Jack who told us all about the history of the area and showed us a scale model of the city, and pointed out some different places.
Jack
One place he suggested we go was the Governor's House Museum. The next few pictures were taken there.
The town has lovely small streets with interesting looking buildings. Also, Heusden is a town surrounded by a wall, mostly to keep the water from flooding it. Obviously, our marina is on the outside of the wall.
They referred to this as "The Watergate" cause the water is right behind me
One of the passages leading to the marina.
In the afternoon, David and I tried to find the showers but no luck! Then I saw a man clearly coming back from a shower and he tried to give me directions. Finally, another man overheard and directed me. I think it was a little to do with a difference in language!
It was quite hot this afternoon, and we all tried to find cool spots. Below is mine:
Then we headed back into town for dinner, which was delicious! The restaurant we ate in is called "In den Verdwaalde Koogel" meaning in the wayward shot. It has a cannonball embedded in the front of it, but according to Jack, it's a fake! Here are pics of the building and the cannonball, which is to the right of the third floor window.
David had an assortmenet of appetizers, including gyoza, shrimp and sardines (served from the tin)
Adele had a special - fish salad, with baby lobsters and a ton of smoked salmon
Sue tried something called "Pillows" which were balls made of chick peas filled with ratatouille over baby veg
Inside the pillows
Adele's passion fruit dessert
Even though it was hot, it was a beautiful sunset. Here are some pictures:
To get an idea of Heusden, here's a picture I found on line.
You can see the two marinas on the left side. Ours is the smaller one on top.
.jpeg)
