Day 11: Gouda, Schoonhoven, & Rotterdam, Netherlands

Frosted Flakes with warm skim milk... not quite as good as it sounds. After breakfast we drove through the countryside en route to a local farm. The recently shorn sheep were baahing away as we made our way into the barn, where we were shown a video on the cheese making process.
After the video we were given some samples of “young” Gouda (pronounced “how-da” by the locals). Young cheese is aged less than four months and is soft and mild. Old cheesse, on the other hand, is aged up to eight months and is much harder (obviously) and has a much sharper taste to it. We tried the normal Gouda, one with herbs, and one with paprika & onions. All were very good and we bought some of each.
Anyway, after our visit to the farm we went to the town of Gouda and walked around the marketplace for a while. There we bought 5 DVDs for 20 euro; the selection was rather slim but we ended up buying - I, Robot, Death Race, The Dark Knight, Burn After Reading, and Must Love Dogs.
We then rode the buses to Schoonhoven, where our ship met us. There were many silver ships and a few animal shops lining the streets of this small, quaint town. We walked around for half an hour or so and then went back to the boat.
We set sail for Rotterdam. I played online poker while Amber read her book for the better part of the afternoon. The slow, unreliable internet connection was driving me crazy, but I was glad to have it.
For dinner, I had spinach risotto and amber had butterfish with an almond crust. By far the best meal of the trip thus far (that the ship offered). We arrived in Rotterdam around 8:00pm. After dinner we decided to watch I, Robot. I really liked the movie - Will Smith is one of my favorite actors. We were both pretty tired, so we crashed right after the movie.

Gouda - 8
Schoonhoven - 5.5
I, Robot - 8