Zaanse Schans and more

This morning it was not exactly clear weather, but not raining. The animals were out in the yard and pasture near our apartment so I took a couple of shots.

Today's goal was to visit some areas of North Holland, just north of Amsterdam - Zaanse Schans, and the towns of Edam, Volendam, and Monnickendam.

At one time there were over 600 windmills in the area along the Zaan river. It was the manufacturing heart of the Netherlands and molens were used for everything from cutting timber to grinding flour, producing oils, and grinding pigments for paint. The area became known for the green paint which was used on many of the buildings in the area. Zaanse Schans is an area which has been set aside to house some remnants of this industrial past. Many of the buildings were moved here from nearby. You can tour the mills to see how they were used to manufacture different things. There are over 900,000 visitors per year to this place, and a good percentage of them were there today in the cheese shop!

Linda asked if she looked cold and windblown - I'd say yes.

 

Edam was a pleasant surprise. We knew that the towns along the coast of the Ijsselmeer  were frequent tourist destinations so we expected a more obviously tourist-oriented place. Instead, we found that Edam is a wonderful small town where real people live & work and the tourist part is very low key. Very nice!

I love the art of Dutch doors and doorways.

St. Nicholas church was begun in the 1400's. The tower was rebuilt in the 1600's when a fire caused it to collapse.

 

We learned from a volunteer that the markings on the gravestones (that look somewhat like cattle brands) were "house marks" that were used because people could not read. These marks were placed on the doorposts of houses to identify them for the residents. To mark the graves in the church, the same marks were used.

 

Volendam is very touristy. The shops are all lined up on the dike that faces the harbor. I think all the tour buses that we saw at Zannse Schans go to Volendam next.

The shop on the left is where we enjoyed Poffertjes when we visited here 15 years ago with our kids.

Right across the street is the shop where we shopped for window lace.

It was a great day for Poffertjes and the shop still makes great ones!

No photos of Monnickendam. We just drove through the center section to get a feel for the place. It is a lot like Edam - not very touristy, but still a place with a special charm. We've put it on the list for our next trip to the Netherlands.

The drive south to our apartment involved the whole gamut of weather. Sun, followed by clouds and hard rain, then sun so bright I needed to put on my sun glasses. When we got back to the apartment the sun got under the clouds and made for a very pleasant opportunity for taking the bikes out for a spin.

There were new clouds rolling in as we rode the bikes tonight, but the combination of dark clouds and low sun made for a very striking view.

The view from our north-facing window at sunset.

Beer report: Gulpener Korenwolf Rosé - 3.5% alcohol content. A refreshing, fruity brew that hardly tastes like beer at all. Baudina recommended this one to Linda. Yum!

Here's a fun one - run korenwolf rosé through Google translate - it comes out at hamster pink. What??? Well it turns out that korenwolf really does mean Hamster - there's even a hamster on the label. There's no explaination of why the hamster is there.