Cheese, Glorious Cheese!

 We are heading south to the home of one of my most favorite cheeses – Gouda. Fun Fact: The Dutch eat 17 kilos (37 pounds) per person per year. My type of people. 

First though, we have to stop at a castle. It was originally built as a fortress but eventually was converted to a fancy residence. I think it's one claim to fame is that it is the birthplace of an extraordinary woman named Belle van Zuylen. She had a distinctly rebellious attitude toward the social norms of the 18^th century. “I have no talent for subordination” she wrote to a suitor.

Zuylen Castle

A stork!

See the stork nests up on the chimneys?

Every wall in this room has this tapestry which was woven in 1670

Close-up of the tapestry

Het Joodse Poortje (The Jewish Gateway)
It originally was the entrance to a Jewish cemetery. 
It is now a tribute to the 300 Gouda citizens who died in the Holocaust. 

On to Sint Janskerk (St. John's Church).  It is famous on two counts.  First, it is the longest church in the Netherlands at 404 feet.  I think that would be longer than a football field.  Secondly, it houses a world-renowned collection of 72 massive, 16th century windows.  It is amazing that they survived both WWII and the destructive Protestant reign when all things Catholic were destroyed.  We had a special local guide to tell us about these windows and she most certainly did.  I think she spent time with every single window, describing it in detail.  I guess I sort of wandered off around window #20 or so.

Sint Janskerk Church

A pleasant interior

I had high hopes for this tour when this was the first window the guide discussed. This particular window was installed in 2016 to mark the 500th anniversary of Erasamus, a Gouda native son. 

This is what the rest of the 71 windows were like.

I always like it when there is organ practice going on in these old churches.

We did finally end up communing with cheese.
This is Gouda Waag (Weigh House) originally used for weighing cheese and other goods. 
It is now a cheese museum where you could sample and buy cheese.