The European Phantom group left Amsterdam last Sunday and biked west to the city of Harlem. There we toured a reconstructed windmill of 1800s vintage with a young physicist guide whom the group really enjoyed. By mid-day we cycled onto Delft to tour a pottery factory producing original Delft blue and colored wares. The next day we cycled into The Haag to see the Maurithuis Museum. (known for many Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Rubens paintings) After a picnic lunch in a nice town square we headed to the beach for a long swim in the English Channel and sun burning. (maybe we stayed too long) By nightfall we boarded the ferry in Hook van Holland to take us overnight to Harwich, UK.
We were all very glad to be back in England and looking forward to take on some long biking days. By 2:00 p.m. we reached our itinerary destination of Sudbury, but the group wanted to go further ending the day with 42 miles. That shortened our next days ride into Cambridge so we did laundry before we got to the hostel. After a grouped cooked dinner in the hostel kitchen we set out to see a disappointing, new Harry Potter movie. It was quite a let-down as several kids were really psyched to see HP in England. Today we toured Kings College of Cambridge U. and went punting on the Cam River. Our night activity - Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing was rained out so it's a quiet night of games and journal writing in the hostel. Tomorrow we're off to London.
