July 1st -- Windmills, Cheese, & Clogs

It was tour day! A group of us had bought a 36 euro ticket for a bus/boat tour of the countryside. It was different from our everyday view of the city life here in Amsterdam.

First stop: Grocery store

Second stop (first on the tour): Zaanse Schans
We had an hour at Zaanse Schans, a picturesque windmill village and visited a cheese farm to see how cheese is made there in the traditional way. I tasted many types of cheese, the goat cheese being my personal favorite. I also bought a caramel sundae that I enjoyed as Kayla and I went inside a windmill to see how it works. It was a very cool place to see while in Amsterdam and I wish we had more time to soak it all in.

Third stop: Volendam
Volendam is a fishing village that we stopped at for a bite to eat before catching a boat to our last destination of the tour. I tried a cheeseburger and fries (called chips in the Netherlands) and though it was okay food, I am not sure what kind of meat my cheeseburger consisted of...sketchy.

Fourth stop: Marken
Marken is a former island that is now connected to the mainland by a dyke. Here, we visited a local clog maker and witnessed the making of a single clog. It was very interesting to see and surprisingly enough, I found the clogs there to be quite comfortable. You wear a pair that is one size bigger than your normal size shoe and though they look too big, they form very well to the feet. I would have bought some had I felt that they were worth the price and known that I had room for them in my luggage. My desire to own clogs shocked even myself!

On the bus rides back to Centraal Station and then the dorms couldn't have gone by any faster as we were all exhausted from such an adventurous day. Needless to say, I will be sleeping just fine tonight.

PICTURES TAKEN 7.1.12

 


 

 

 

 

 




 

 
 

 

Olden days photo

 

We must have smelt something bad...lol