And a happy fourth of July! To celebrate our nation's independence, Deb and i hopped on our bikes and headed north to see some good old fashioned Dutch windmills. We biked through the center of Amsterdam to hop on the fry across the north sea canal and start our adventure. We figured out which signs we should be following (at least we were pretty sure) and started out on a gorgeous bike ride first through amazingly cute Dutch neighborhoods (who knew one little canal could produce such a difference in life?) and then picturesque countryside. We are talking sheep, cows, goats, canals running through the fields...all without the typical Wisconsin mosquito bugging you. It was really just gorgeous. We found our way to Oostzaan, and found a little place to have lunch. Just another "oud kaas" sandwich, but delicious as always. We got a little help on directions at this point, and eventually made our way to Zaanse Schans, where a bunch of old Dutch windmills have been relocated around a little pond/lake. Really cute. And then we made our fatal error. Rather than take the "easy out" and get on the train back to Amsterdam, we decide we are going to finish the "loop" that the bike map gave us. Bad idea. We got a few blocks of cute Dutch town followed by **** after industrial ****. And a tour of a part of Amsterdam that I'm not sure we needed to ever be in. But oh well, we did it, and deb even made it to get Maya on time from school. I would venture a guess at about 20-ish miles that we did on bike today. I won't lie, I'm proud of myself. :) While Deb went to get the girls, I stopped in the grocery store to pick up a few provisions for our last cheese/bread/olive/beer dinner, and my accent must have given me away, since the young British guy behind me suddenly said "Happy independence day!" Which I thanked him for, and then wondered whether a Brit can really with an American that wholeheartedly. :) And now my belly is full of delicious beer and food, and it's time to pack up the last few things. Flight is at 10:35, so Deb will be getting me to the first train station so I can head off to the airport. It's been a whirlwind 3 1/2 weeks. Madrid feels like years ago, yet it has gone SO FAST! I hope you are all having/had a wonderful fourth of July! No fireworks here tonight, but I had enough of those in Barcelona to last me a while. :)