Today was much lighter. We all met at the mill in Alkmaar, about 10 km north of Castricum. Most of the adults and students biked to Alkmaar, while other got a ride or took the train. While in Alkmaar we were treated to a tour of this very old city and went to the museum where we learned about the Spanish invasion of Alkmaar in the 1500’s and the battles time protects the town. Shortly after that time, all the way to the present, the town has been a market/commerce based town. After spending the morning touring the town, the students went off with their hosts to enjoy the remainder of their last day.

Despite valiant attempts all week by Ms. Flynn, she finally had to give up her quest to see a live show in the Netherlands. Open theaters have been few and far between and those that are open either did not have active shows or were sold out.

Nevertheless, the weather was spectacular today which made walking around the city and enjoying lunch and dinner on the square a great experience, especially for our last day.

We are scheduled to arrive midday and should be back at school by 1 pm. I’ll submit a final blog Friday or over the weekend. But for now, it’s been an amazing experience: being in such a history-rich country, spending time with the Dutch people and, specifically, the students and staff from Jac P. Thisse school, eating different foods, learning parts of a different language, and of course making riding a bike the most common way to travel.