dutch williamsburg

on sunday, our plan was to walk laurel and david to the train station, and then catch a train to zaanse schans open air folk museum. i explained it to laurel, and she said, "oh, like a dutch williamsburg?" which is actually the perfect description. 

anyway, we thought we would wait with the porters until their train left, grab some breakfast at the station, then go. but our train was leaving in 2 minutes, and so we said a hurried goodbye, and made the train right before the doors shut. 

this was the first time we arrived at a day trip destination before noon. 

this bar has an outdoor beach. it looked pretty balmy. 

here are four windmills in a row, but there's actually five. you just can't see it. and there are about 6 more smaller ones in the village. we went to the one that's second from the left. 

he is guarding things. 

this is the view from "de cat", the color mill. this is the last color mill in the world, and it grinds pigments and chalk for paints. i have some cobalt blue pigment, if you need some. 

i'm still filming. i love filming. 

ryan has long arms, but this is a terrible shot of me. sigh, it's still proof. 

you had to climb some really steep stairs to get up there and back. 

this is an outhouse. THIS IS WHY YOU CAN'T FALL IN THE CANALS! do you see where it empties??

then we went into the cheese farm, which has this sign. there are chickens wandering all over. i'm not sure if chickens can read, but i didn't see any inside the cheese factory. which is probably good. 

making cheese!

i was trying to take a picture of the hats they forced the employees to wear (the traditional white dutch caps) but i didn't want to be rude. this was the result of take a shot over ryan's shoulder. 

wandering chicken. she's actually a pretty chocolate brown color, not black. 

got it??

bashful ram. 

teepee chicken coop. 

these are the queen's mints. they're like altoids, but not as strong. bigger though. and the queen's face is on them. i'm just not sure i'd like the idea of my subjects biting into my head as a postprandial treat, but i'm not a monarch, so i can't say. 

a lot of the houses here are green, because it was believed a long time ago that green paint protected better against wood rot. you can imagine things like rot and decay are pretty common in this flat, wet land. 

Albert Heijn is the owner of albert heijn markets, which seems to be the only supermarket chain we've found. here is the replica of his first grocery store. 

i love how the flours have designed marked into them. so cute. and probably unsanitary. what if you have mice??

sugar loaves. the grocer would chunk out a piece and grind it for you, if you wished. 

more green houses...

ah, the clog factory. too bad i already have my wooden clogs at home, because i could sure have used another pair here...

ancient clogs. each region of the netherlands had a slightly different style. for example, in this region of holland, fisherman preferred a clog with a thin, tapered end on the toe... so they could easily catch a corner of their nets for repairs. smart. 

clog flats. lol. 

the stages of a clog...

these are bridal clogs. in one town, grooms began carving a pair of clogs for his bride to be as soon as she said yes to the engagement. they had intricate patterns of love and fidelity motifs, and the bride wore them throughout her engagement and on her wedding day. ryan did not carve me any clogs. i'm not sure we're technically married here. he should work on that. 

roller clogs!!

ski clogs!

cheese clogs!

feet clogs! (don't these captions sound like a dr. suess book? roller clogs, ski clogs, cheese clogs, feet clogs! clogs over here! clogs over there! clogs clogs clogs are EVERYWHERE! do you wish them on your feet? they will help you keep the beat! try them as you climb the stairs! they're even good to throw at bears.... okay, that's plenty)

carving workshop. we missed the demo by about 6 minutes. darn. 

look, you can get a third foot walking sticks! i love this!

 all of the following are for sale...

i need this shirt. it's for a child though. typical. 

now i look so dutch. see, my hair even went blonde!

this is supposedly the tackiest of the 3 open air folk museums in holland, but it's the closest to amsterdam. and if you only go to one, you won't know the difference. we had a LOT of fun here. i highly recommend it.