Alkmaar today

We woke early with the sun pouring in. It was an idyllic morning, though lots of dew on the grass, so we had our coffee inside. We set off quite punctually, but quickly hit a lock that didn’t open till 9.00. Never mind. The run down to Alkmaar was smooth, without dredging delays or others. Even the rail bridge opened quite quickly. It is quite an impressive arrival:

Like so many of these Dutch towns and cities, there are plenty of people living in floating homes along the canals and rivers on the way in. This one had two stories, which is more than most:

We lunched on an outer quayside, but were soon visited by a rather formidable young women who told us where to go – into an inner harbour, where we are now comfortably moored up for a couple of days:

There was a bit of drama right opposite shortly after we arrived. Not sure exactly what happened, but somehow a young women jumped or fell from a first-floor window. The ambulance and police were already on the scene when it happened, so she was quickly attended too. Our harbour-mistress said she thought it was a drug-related incident. Sad.

After that excitement, we headed out into the town, and once again found it to be a handsome place …

… with busy, narrow streets. No cars, but lots of bicycles, and indeed mobility scooters, which travel silently and at great speed in Holland.

We found the Great Church, which is now more of a museum, but there was a wedding being celebrated, at the west rather than east end. A civil ceremony, we thought. Plenty of glasses and bottles were being laid out in the main aisle.  Both bride and groom made their entrances to distinctly modern and non-religious music. We particularly admired the younger bridesmaid for refusing to wear shoes!

The town is evidently getting ready for a funfair over the weekend, and we're hoping it will be far enough away from us so we get some sleep. Not sure if the town hall was getting a brush up as part of the preparations:

We ended up in the cheese market square – given over to bars and cafés today:

Then back to the boat. Altogether a most attractive town:

Tomorrow the plan is to take in the cheese market display, and then hop on a train to Amsterdam to have a look at the tall ships assembled there – and also buy more oatcakes from Marks and Spencer! We are contemplating joining the procession on Sunday when the ships return down the North Sea canal to Ijmuiden.