The “big town” in this area is Alkmaar. It is the one with the well known cheese market (staged for the tourists). We’ve also learned that has a history of being a bit of a bully in terms of local politics.
One of the interesting angles in the text of the exhibits at the Molen Museum was that for several hundred years the decisions about the local polder were made for the benefit of Alkmaar. Just what that meant wasn’t clear, but it was clearly a financial thing and it benefited the folks in Alkmaar without regard to the local people in this area.
These days Alkmaar just seems to be the big city where folks go to shop for things that can’t be obtained in their local stores. That was exactly our motivation, but we also managed to take in some interesting sights.
I love storefronts here in the Netherlands. The racks in the entries and the display windows are always great fun. In the case of Joh Boom, the inside was the most interesting.
I ended up with a new pair of klompen – the ones which I have at home are too big and require a second set of socks. Now I have a pair that fits like I want.
The cathedral in Alkmaar is no longer used as a church but it is still very interesting, and someone was practicing on the organ!
Organ Practice, Alkmaar Cathedral (I can’t seem to embed the video, so you’ll just have to use this link to hear the organ.)
Here are a couple more views of the city.
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