5/14 Willemstad to Bergen op Zoom - last day on the bikes.

Slept well and and awoke to a photographers sunrise. After breakfast which was a bit sparse relatively speaking, we walked around old Willemstad enjoying the brisk morning air, sunlight and surroundings. Some of which included huge old war bunkers but mostly the quaint old port town. We set out on our last day of riding to Bergen op Zoom through the countryside which superficially reminded me of the mid west US with vast expanses of fields / farmhouses punctuated by small towns with a dominant church. Monday and again nothing's open, after accosting a local man for food hints, so we headed off route into a small town where we discovered a small bakery and made do. Some ways further on we passed some Belgian blue cattle. This breed expresses a genetic mutation of myostatin regulation which results in muscular hypertrophy to the extent the the animals take on a shocking appearance. ( At least to cow aficionados ). http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/belgian-blue-cattle-bodybuilders-of-the-bovine-world.html The mutation has also occurred in humans and you can see the results with a google search. We passed a huge basilica in one town and later a vehicle looking like the google car passed us ! So perhaps we'll be immortalized somewhere on line. We reach Bergen early and called Peter Vos the owner / operator of Tulip Cycling who brought our packs and picked up our bikes. We had a great chat with him and would completely recommend this company to anyone contemplating a cycle tour of Holland. After cleaning up we walked about the huge town center seeing at once the antiquity of the place. The oldest hotel in Europe is here for instance ! We dined at the Teerkamer a restaurant dating from 1505. We started with soup - seafood for me vegetable for Tam and some red wine. Tam order beef tenderloin in a spicy sweet reduction, while I tried the chicken breast stuffed with spinach and feta. Chocolate mousse for dessert rounded our the experience. The food was great but I would have to say that our conversation with Leslie who we discovered to be the restaurant proprietor was fantastic. He exposed us to a traditional Dutch way of enjoying roast potatoes or fries-- by dipping them in applesauce (applemousse).Wow it's a refreshing taste- try this at home! He introduced us to his new wife and in a brief time we had one of those great discussions that a traveler loves. The sort of people you would hope might visit you someday! We took a quick look around town before retiring to our lofty room.