Arriving in Hoorn just in time to catch the first of the Stoomtrams (Steam Trains) was a lucky break, and we even got the conductor to tell us all about the steam trains and cars which were all running due to the festival of steam trains, which only happened this weekend! We had brunch in a small station called Wognum-Nibbixwoud, and then lunch in Twisk, on the way to Medemblik, where we caught a boat to Enkhuizen (on which, incidentally, we had a snack of beers and bitterballen, a Dutch food which resembles a veal meat paste fried in a croquette or ball shape).
After arriving in Enkhuizen, we found our very nice bed and breakfast, which was thankfully, an easy walk from the station. We accidentally took a long nap, and woke up in time for dinner, which of course wound up being a goat cheese salad and pork spareribs (see the cheese and pork connection?). It doesn’t get dark until ten o’clock or so in the evening, which wreaked havoc with our sense of time. The internal clock didn’t understand the lack of darkness well. We spent the evening in the B&B watching strange Dutch television and trying to figure out what they were saying.
It was a day full of desirable transportation connections, which gave us a great view of the spent tulip fields, plenty of fuzzy sheep, happy Netherlanders spending the weekend in the outdoors, wonderfully restored engines and railcars, and pleasant countryside scenes. Only in Europe could you take four different trains and a boat and end up in the right place at the right time.