We made a detour to Alkmaar on the way back to Germany so that we could see the famous cheese market.  Every Friday, Alkmaar holds a traditional cheese market and the market square was packed-even though it was windy and super cold!!  Early in the morning the cheese is brought to the square, unloaded, and stacked according to type.  The market starts at 10:00 and involves some type of bidding that is done with handclaps.  The cheese is weighed, taste-tested, and then bid on.  After the winning bid is taken, porters in colored straw hats load the cheese onto sleds and carry it to wagons. The whole process is fun to watch even though we really didn't understand everything that was going on. 

Alkmaar seems like a really pretty town with lots of canals and gabled houses.  After the market we didn't look around very much because it was so cold and windy, but it might be an interesting place to come back to.