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Tuesday, Apr 07, 2015
Tuesday
We got up early on Tuesday to walk around and take photos. Some of the best lighting often occurs in the morning. If you’re really lucky, mists can appear which allow for truly amazing shots.
But no mists that day.
One item of the list was to visit the bell tower, so we made sure to return there when it opened and be among the first ones up. No use in spending the whole day in long lines. The tower was great, with the typical tiny spiraling staircase which led up 366 steps. There were breaks long with way. And I could see how crazy the place would be later in the days since only one direction could move at a time. If you’re going to do such things, do them early. And again, the gap is narrow. “In Bruges” had a character make some mean comments about a man’s impractical desire to climb the stairs. But in reality, if you’re obese, it’s going to be a problem.
After the church, we headed to the outskirts of the city--or at least up to the main “moat.” Once passed there, the city is really the modern city and there’s not much for tourists there.
The walk along the outer canal for the chance to visit and old windmill, a place where you could see how the grain was grinded down from within. I guess I never knew just exactly how the process was down, but it’s not rocket science. The mills are pretty huge when you get up next to them.
Before heading back to the square, I needed to buy laundry detergent. I had forgotten to bring some on the trip and didn’t have enough clothes for the full time. I would need at least one round of hotel sink laundry performed.
But it was hard to find and the bottles were in Dutch. No matter. My handy iPhone solved that issue and I could ask a clerk for help finding “Wasmiddel.” Trouble is they only had large bottles, not travel sizes. I had to go with that.
Back at the hotel, I washed my underclothes and left them to dry. There wouldn’t’ be a lot of time for drying so I was hoping having the heat up high would help dry the clothes quicker. I guess it helped some, but not a whole lot.