32. Europe Bicycle Trip--Day 9-The Cheese Market at Alkmaar-Inside the Fence!

On Day 9, Friday, April 25th, while Margot and the children celebrated King's Day at school with breakfast, gifts from the king and games at the beach in the afternoon, Sarah, Dane and I took the bus north to Alkmaar to view the cheese market activities. We arrived early so the streets were quite empty and the shops were just opening so we did some shopping at the street side stands.

I bought a handmade figurine of a mother,father with 5 children-4girls and a boy in the middle.

Sarah was always thinking of the best souvenirs for her family.

When we came to the square ppeople were already starting to gather around the fence with 45 minutes to go. We found a spot but as time went by the crowd starting squeezing us out. I used my Dutch and called over a boy inside the fence and asked if it was possible to move inside to a bench so that Dane would not get hurt and would be able to see something. He went and asked someone else and told us that we could come in. WOW! That turned out to  be great as we could see everything clearly and Dane was happy and later became a small part of the show in our area. We were right by the spot where the men come running in to the weigh scale and run out again to get more cheese.

A view from outside the fence where we were. You can see the empty bench that we finally sat on.

While we waited ,we bought a descriptive book and I asked for a photo with the girl. Her name was Els.

At exactly 10 am. the bell rang and activity started. These cheeses had been brought in this morning. Now the experts drill into some and get samples and discuss their opinions.

One man walked along the fence and gave some spectators tastes of the samples.

The cheese carriers then hurriedly carried the loads of cheese to the weigh scale and calling out loud for everyone to clear the way.

Two loads go on one side of the big scale and on the other side inside the building weights are put on to balance it and find the weight.

And away they go again to get more cheese. The hats are different colours for the different groups.

A group photo-the man is yellow is doing it for the first time. He was sweating and laughing a lot.

We were happy with our front row seats right by all the action.

Every Friday there is a celebrity present and today it was, Koen Verweij, one of the Netherlands Olympic Gold Medal winners in speed skating.

Koen participated in everything to the delight of the crowd.