Blip with Technology

I ran into a problem with Blogspot which is the app I use for blogging.  It hasn't worked for two days.  I tried it this morning (Friday) and now it does.  To be honest, I've also adapted to the time zone and been out later.

I woke up on Wednesday to a beautiful sunny day.  My plan was to go to a town called Zaanse Schans to see windmills.  The town is a 15 minute train ride from Amsterdam.

On the way to the bus which takes me to the train station, I took a few pictures.  At the bridge I cross to go to the bus stop, there is an old bridge house.  For 100 years Amsterdam's bridge houses accommodated the city's many bridge keepers who were responsible for opening these impressive structures for passing boat traffic.  However, with the introduction of centralised bridge control systems the bridge houses became redundant.  For the first time yesterday, I saw a couple sitting in the bridge house.  It was then that I saw a banner on the building that read Sweets Hotel.  I Googled it when I got home.  I learned that in 2012, a company started to transform the bridge houses into tiny suites.  Twenty-eight have been transformed so far.  The average cost to stay in one is 150 Euros per night.  This is the bridge house I walk by every day.

I round another corner and see the town square being set up for market day!  I love markets!  I was bummed because I couldn't stop.  I had a train to catch.  I did take a couple of pictures.  Of what?  Yup, you guessed it.  Sunflowers.  I can never get over how little you pay for a big bunch of flowers in Europe.  I always feel like I'm being gouged when I buy flowers in Canada.

Wednesday's adventure took me to windmills in the town of Zaanse Schans.  According to the information online, it is a short walk from the train station to the windmills.  I believe the information was written by a European because history has taught me every time I ask "How far and long to walk there?",  I get told "Not so far. Not so long.  Just a short walk.".  That is not the case.  For me, a short walk isn't 20 to 25 minutes!!!!  Also directions on the website lie!!  It wasn't a straight shot to the windmills.  Also, where are signs telling me I'm going the right way to the windmills?  I took a guess that it had to be toward water so I started walking, walking and walking.  You can only imagine my relief when I got to the end of a long street, turned the corner and saw this!

Yay, I had arrived.  I walked up the street and saw people that had been on the train with me across the street and heading over a bridge.  What?  Which route did they take to get there?  I looked to the right and way up and over the bridge I see the windmills!  Darn!  More walking.  Half way across the bridge, I stopped to take the first of 146 pictures of my visit to Zaanse Schans windmills.  Don't panic!  I'm not going to post all of those pictures.  It'll be tough holding back for you but I can do it.

**Please note, this isn't my picture I took from the bridge.  The ones I took didn't do the view justice.

When you see something like this, it gives you the energy to start walking again because you want to see everything in the village.  I finally get to the entrance to this attraction and, immediately, forgive Google maps and the European for the lies.  It was so lovely!  The Dutch houses, bridges over the water, canals, etc. was a sight to behold.

I had booked a reservation at one of the museums for 10:30 so decided to roam around.  I saw people with drinks so I found the store and get one too.  Walked for 10 minutes to find it though!  Reoccurring them?  This was the inside of it.  I had entered a time warp.

Finally 10:30, I head to the museum.  At the time I booked the ticket, I didn't quite understand what I was going to see.  I could see the word time outside of the building but didn't think much about it.  Well, after the woman finally figured out how to make my e-ticket work (she was older than me - one word technology), I suddenly hear clocks ticking and chiming.  What?  It was then I realized the whole museum was clocks!  Oh joy!  Well, I made the best of it and remember, my I Amsterdam card?  It's one of the free attractions you get with the card.  I won't bore you with pictures of a lot of clocks only a few because I won't be alone in this experience.

This was on a table in the museum.  While roaming in Amsterdam, I had seen these without flowers in them in store windows and thought they were ugly and what was the purpose.  Boy, was I wrong!

The clock in the picture of above meant something to me later on in my visit to Zaanse Schans.  It is a vintage Zaanse clock from 1962.  At the height of the clock's popularity, the Zaanse supermarket chain, Albert Heijn, had 5000 copies made to mark the company's 75th anniversary.  All employees were presented with one of these clocks.  According the Heijn brothers, it was a copy of the Jan Koogies' clock that used to hang in their family home.

Enough about clocks already!

I walk down the street and see a building that says Albert Heijn.  What?  I and now you have just read that name.  I know it's the store so in I go.  It is a replica of the first Albert Heijn store.

The next few pictures are the village.  Enjoy the scenery!

Cheese!  Who knew there were so many places that sold cheese.  Cheese shops are like 7Eleven.  They are everywhere.  With a population of 17 million people in the Netherlands, there is supply and demand.  It was interesting to see a demonstration of how the cheese is made.  Of course, at the end of the demonstration, the path leads you into a shop.  You are able to sample a lot of cheese.  I got a whiff of one type of cheese and didn't try any.

A cheesy picture of me!  Had to say this for Bill Swan.  A friend who loves puns.

Ready to groan?  This woman was literally cutting the cheese!  Get it?  *hahaha*

Next stop, the Klompen maker.  This was very interesting.  Not only were there thousands of pairs of wooden shoes from days gone but we got to see how they are made.  The oldest surviving wooden footwear in Europe dates from 1230 and 1280.  Did you know they were designed to protect the feet of factory workers, artisans, farmers, fishermen and other trade jobs?  The European Union has even declared it an official safety shoes - now that's hardcore!  There is an entire history to these shoes.  If you're interested, look it up.  I didn't know that clogs are considered wooden shoes too.  I only ever thought of the shoes pictured below as wooden shoes.

Before I left Victoria, I saw a picture of wooden shoes in a heart.  I learned where the pictures was taken and decided I was going to Zaanse Schans and would find the shoes to take my own picture.  I succeeded.

There are many styles of shoes.  Brides and grooms would order special shoes to wear at their wedding.  Shoes are also made in sizes for babies and children.

Even music instruments are made in the shape of the shoes.

A demonstration of wooden shoe making. With modern technology, a pair of shoes made out of Poplar wood can be made in 15 minutes.  It takes three weeks for the wood to dry out and then the time to paint them  In the olden days, it would take five days to carve one pair.  Shoes in the store averaged between 40 and 50 Euros.  Side note: The fellow in the pictures switched between speaking English, Italian and Dutch seamlessly.  It was amazing to listen to.  Afterward, I spoke to him.  I said I bet he didn't grown up thinking he'd be making wooden shoes for a living.  He agreed.  I then said especially after you went to university.  He laughed and said I got that right too.  He's a teacher and can't find work.  It's sad how that situation is everywhere.

Finally on to what I came to see - windmills.  There was about six different windmills.  All different ages.  One was open to go into and climb up to the top to go outside on a platform.  Yes, I did it.  I thought "When will I have an opportunity to do that again."  I kept repeating that mantra as I climbed up three very steep flights of stairs.  The last set was so steep that everyone had to go down backward when they were leaving.

This is the last steep set of stairs leading up to the platform.

It takes wind to make the sails of the windmill rotate.  One of the workers said it's too bad the blades aren't rotating today.  I must have good timing because as I walked toward a windmill, I could see the blades on one windmill slowly rotating in the gentle breeze.  Enjoy!  PS:  I hope the video works after I publish this blog.

It is now the end of the day.  I'm exhausted from the walking and climbing.  I don't feel like walking all the way back to the entrance of the village.  Oh, I forgot to tell you the village is spread out over several hectares of land.  It wasn't grouped together so you could walk from one building to the next.  I digress.  I'm whining inside about the traipse back when I spy a sign for a ferry ride across the water to the real old village of Zaanse Schans.  The cost 1.50 Euros.  OMG, what a deal.  What a God send!  I happily pay my money and hop on the boat.  I chat with people on the boat.  Sit back and enjoy being on the water on a beautiful day.  In 10 minutes we're on the other side and reality hits.  The ride was from one side to the other so that means to get to the train I have to do what!  OMG, what the entire length of the village.  Noooo!  I try to see that silver lining again, the boat operator gave me a list of interesting homes to look at and their history as I plod along to the train.  That silver lining didn't last long.  My tired body and feet started whining louder than me.  After 30 minutes of walking (Where was a damned bus?), I ask someone if I'm heading in the direction of the train stop.  Thank God I was.  I finally get to the train just in time to see it arrive.  There is a God!  I don't think I've ever sat down so quickly.  It was heaven.

View from the ferry looking back at the windmills.  I was so happy then.  Blissfully unaware of the walk ahead of me.

It was a great day.  I'm glad I went.  I would recommend a visit to this place to anyone.

Remember when I talked about the Albert Heijn store?  No sooner did I get back to the train station and walk up the street only to see an Albert Heijn store.  I walk another few blocks - another one!  I get off my bus to go home, look across the street - another A. H. store.  OMG, that means not having to walk 15 minutes from my bus stop to get groceries anymore!  Thank you, Albert Heijn.

Total steps for the day = 23,104