Zaanse Schans, The Netherlands –
The wind is blowing.
Which should be a good thing.
It’ll have those windmills going!
But it also means that we have to deal with it.
Walking into it.
Looking into it.
Making sure we don’t have any loose pieces of clothing that aren’t secured.
Well, there’s a reason this place is known for their windmills…
We were taking a day to spend at Zaanse Schans, about a half-hour train ride out from Amsterdam. Maybe less.
It’s kinda a working museum, where they are maintaining the traditional Dutch way of life.
In other words, they have a set of windmills, all lined up along the river, and they have at least one running most days that you can visit.
One grinds pigments for use in paint.
Another grinds mustard.
A third is a lumber mill, turning logs into wood planks.
Actually, they have two or three lumber mills.
And then there are two or three oil mills, where they extract vegetable oils from seeds.
And by traditional way of life, it’s what you would have found in a typical Dutch village about two or three centuries ago.
Back during the heyday of Holland as a power in Europe.
Of course, that means there’s more than just windmills…
In fact, there’s a whole village.
And a farm.
A cheese farm, to be exact.
Although, there are the regular farm fields and animals.
So, we took off from the Amsterdam Train Station that morning and arrived at the Zaandijk Station, only to find we had a bit of a hike in front of us.
See, the train station is in the modern town across the river, so we had to follow the signs.
And then we had to wait for the ferry, and then ride it across the river.
But, once we arrived, there we were.
In the parking lot.
At the time, they were rebuilding a bridge across the river. Now the work is done and you can walk across.
Or ride a bike…
So, we headed to the visitor center, where we found that there was only one of the windmills operating that day.
So, we started wandering the grounds.
Right into the cheese farm.
Oh man, if you like cheese, this is the place to find it.
As we entered, we found a glass-enclosed room where the cheese is being made.
Not that there was anything going on to see.
Other than a bunch of lumps of curds sitting in various stages of becoming cheese.
Enough to keep your interest for about five minutes or so, at which point it drops to just slightly more exciting than watching paint dry.
It’s like a museum exhibit, showing the various steps in making cheese, all frozen in place.
I assume that if you luck out and get there at just the right time, there may be some activity going on to watch, but there wasn’t when we were there.
So, from there we found ourselves in a very large cheese shop.
With plenty of cheeses to sample and buy.
Along with mustard and a few other food items.
It struck me as odd, putting a sample of mustard on a thin slice of cheese, but there was nothing else (that I could find) to sample the mustard on.
I would assume that they were all products of the various operations of Zaanse Schans…
So, eventually we made our selections, purchased our cheeses (and mustard), and made our way back outside.
After all, like with many tourist-oriented sights, once you entered the cheese farm building, the only way out was through the cheese shop, passing by the cash registers…
It’s as if they’re trying to guilt you into buying something.
Once we made it out, we headed over to the windmills.
And into the one that was open.
And operating.
And grinding away.
It seems the one we got to see that day was the pigment windmill.
And it was grinding something that looked like it was probably the base filler for paint pigments.
It looked like it was grinding some chalk rocks, turning them into powder.
And almost the entire windmill was open to explore.
Up and down, through all levels, watching the gears work as they converted the wind driving the sails into a few pairs of large stone wheels rotating over something that was being ground into a fine powder.
The only areas that were off limits seemed to be more for safety than anything else.
Well, except for the office area on the ground floor, but it wasn’t part of the actual works.
And we could tell the windmill next door was a lumber mill because of all the logs that were sitting on the ramp from the river, waiting to be milled.
That would have been an interesting operation to see…
After we decided we had done enough climbing and exploring, we left the windmill through the gift shop (of course). They sold paint samples in small apothecary jars, set of paints, and other artist items. And they also were selling homemade hot chocolate, with rum!
On this very cold and windy day. Imagine that!
It proved to be too much of a temptation–we had to partake. And it was delicious.
As we took our time walking back through the village, I stopped to examine the lunch menu at the restaurant.
I shouldn’t have looked.
The soup of the day was Mustard Soup!
See, a few years earlier, on a visit to Groningen, we had discovered Mustard Soup.
A rich, creamy, mustardy bowl of liquid delight.
From talking to several people, we got the mistaken impression that it was a traditional soup for the whole country.
No, it was only a traditional soup for that region of the country.
So, ever since, on each trip to the Netherlands, we have our eyes out for Mustard Soup, and here it was.
Just a couple minutes after they had closed…
NNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
If only we hadn’t visited the windmill first.
If only we hadn’t taken so long to visit the windmill.
If only we hadn’t taken the time to enjoy the hot chocolate after visiting the windmill.
If only…
Oh well…
Maybe next time…
For more photos of Zaanse Schans, click here.
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