My Favorite is Gouda.

You know in the movies when you see the man chasing after the train because the woman he loves just left to start her life anew somewhere else? That happened to us today. Except there were 3 women on the train and 2 men and 2 other women chasing a train. The problem was, they didn't know which train the women they were seeking were on. So, they ran toward the correct one, second guessed themselves, and then got on a different train, only to sit in the luggage cabin. Meanwhile, on the train to Den Haag at 7:46am, 3 young women sat, waiting for those pursuing them to join them... and they  never did. So they sat on a train for an hour and 20 minutes, got off in Gouda and waiting for the others to (hopefully) arrive. Finally (2 minutes later) they were joined by their fellow travelers and they continued their journey.

However, before they sought out the cheese in Gouda, we were informed that the train incident was not the first travel dilemma on the trip. One of the boys who lives about 30 minutes (biking) from the train station had his bike break 3 times before he even crossed the bridge completely. So, he chucked the bike off the trail and ran the remainder 20 minutes to the station, to make it just in time for the train, only to find out that he had to run after a train 5 minutes later again. It's a good thing they did all that exercising though, because little did we know, Gouda is where tourists go to eat. When they say, "cheese and stroep waffle capital," they aren't kidding. Every Tuesday and Saturday they have a market in many of the towns, and there is cheese EVERYWHERE-- stroep waffles as well. We stopped at a bakery, ordered some baked goods, found freshly made stroep waffles that were the size of a salad plate and ate those, too. Later in the afternoon we returned to the market and bought hunks of cheese and walked around the city eating cheese. 

Before our return to the market, we explored the city a bit more-- found the city hall, a church built in the 1400's, and a windmill with the mill-man anxiously waiting to give a tour of his mill. Luckily one of the guys we traveled with spoke enough Dutch to understand and communicate with the joyful little old man as he gave a very thorough tour of the windmill-- including turning the windmill on. We climbed halfway and got an overlook of the whole city-- gorgeous. We then climbed the ladders to the top and looked out of the small open-air windows at the city. We made our way back down, took some more pictures, and then decided to make our way back to the train station to head to Delft (you know, that city that's famous for the blue pottery stuff).

When we got there, it was pouring rain, but that didn't stop us. We found a souvenir shop, did a little shopping, and then tried to climb to the top of a church but were informed it was closed for the wind. So, our handy tour guide Karl led us around the city to an old bridge that is the oldest remnant of the city entrance. We fed some ducks, took some more pictures, and then decided to get back on the train and find a place to eat dinner. We all ended up sleeping a bit on the train ride back and decided to just head back to Zwolle and grab something to eat there. We, again, visited our host brother's pizza place and ate some really good pizza and then headed our separate ways.

All around, I'd say it was a successful first day excursion and now that we've mastered the trains, nothing stands in between us and the rest of Europe.