River Cruise 2018 Day 17

---

And now we are in Amsterdam, the terminus of our river cruise. We still have one more sleep on the boat, however, before we disembark tomorrow. Because we will spending a few days seeing the sights of Amsterdam on our own, we have opted for an excursion just outside Amsterdam to a place named Zaanse Schans.

Zaanse Schans is an open air conservation area and museum on the bank of the Zaan River. It displays the traditional architecture of the area and has several functioning windmills and craftsman's workshops. Our guide is a friendly lady with an infectious laugh named Rita. She provides background information on the historical relationship between Amsterdam and the sea. As is commonly known, most of the Netherlands, and in particular Amsterdam, is below sea level and is protected from flooding by a series of dams and dikes. Windmills were important to pump water and to harness wind energy for many other essential everyday tasks.

On the bus by 9 am and in Zaanse Schans 30 minutes later. We can see several windmills turning slowly in the distance. Our first visit is to a wooden shoe factory, which starts with a historical retrospective on the role of wooden shoes. Whether or not they are comfortable, wooden shoes are practical, in that they are ideal for working in the fields and offer great protection for the feet. We witness a demonstration of how wooden shoes are made today: manually but with the help of machinery. A pair appears from a piece of wood in a mere ten minutes. Following is the obligatory gift shop, where you can buy a huge array of trinkets on the wooden shoe theme. We decide to buy piggy banks for the kids. I am in line behind a Japanese tourist who drops 1200€ on wooden shoe paraphernalia.

We now walk past some recreated traditional Dutch homes. Rita tells us that aside from the main door to the house, there is a special door that is used only twice: once when you enter the house for the first time, typically when you have just married, and once when you exit the house because you are dead. One of the houses has a display of traditional ice skates at the entrance. The canals used to freeze over regularly in Holland, but that happens only rarely now. When it does happen, Rita tells us that it's like a national holiday, and everyone goes skating.

We move on to the windmills. The first one is a sawmill, but it is not functioning today. We move on to the next, which is a dyemill. The mill is nicknamed De Kat. It crushes various substances to create dyes for paints, fabrics and other uses. We are given an overview of operations by Peter, who comes from a long line of windmill owners. He is passionate about keeping these traditional technologies alive. The mill does one colour at a time and has to be completely cleaned when switching to another colour. Basically the wind power is transformed through a series of gears to drive enormous circular crushing stones that rotate around to pulverize chalk mixed with substances to make colour. After the talk, I have an opportunity to climb to the upper deck of the windmill, where I have an excellent view of the entire Zaanse Schans complex. Very picturesque. On this level, there is a huge iron wheel that is used to turn the entire windmill by hand to catch the prevailing wind.

We have some free time to wander around. We check out the cheese factory/store, where they still make cheese according to traditional methods. The Dutch are slightly cheese-crazy, by the way. As tempting as the offerings are, we're pretty sure that we can't bring random cheese back home with us.

Back on the buses and off to the town of Edam. On the way, Rita points out some beautiful homes in traditional style. She explains the process by which land is gradually reclaimed from the sea. First, the designated area, typically a marsh, is blocked off from the sea by building a dam or dike. This is now called a polder. Water can be pumped out of the polder to lower its level. Eventually, since it is unconnected to the sea, the water becomes fresh. It may be kept as a lake or filled in to create arable land.

Whenever major new dams have been created, a town usually grows on the spot. The dam on the Amstel begat Amsterdam, and the dam on the river E (also spelled IJe) begat Edam. That's why so many city and town names in the Netherlands end in "dam."

We arrive in Edam and descend for a walking tour. We walk by St. Nicholas Church (15th century), surprisingly large for a small town. We then follow the main canal. Edam is a charming town with beautifully maintained homes in Dutch traditional style. We reach the cheese market, where in years gone by cheesemakers would bring their wares and sell them to merchants by bidding and haggling. This ritual is reenacted for tourists on Wednesdays, but today is Sunday. However, there are lots of cheese shops sprinkled throughout Edam. After all, the eponymous cheese was born in Edam.

Our walk marks our first exposure to Dutch bicycles. Rita cautions us to never cross a sidewalk or street without checking both ways for bicycles. As we will come to fully appreciate later, there are more bicycles than cars and even than people in Amsterdam, and bicycles rule the roost. Pedestrians and motor vehicles beware.

We have now reached the E river that flows through the centre of town. The dam is completely encased in cement and acts a bridge. Rita tells us that the dam was destroyed several times because of disputes between competing merchant guilds, and finally it was rebuilt to be unreachable and indestructible.

As we are crossing the dam/bridge, we notice that foam bullets are mysteriously appearing in our midst. It takes us a while to realize that a posse of three young boys is stalking us and first furtively and then openly targeting us. We continue our walk past the Town Hall and circle back to the bus. The three young hooligans take the opportunity to attack our bus. Not sure whether they're adorable or brats.

The bus returns to Amsterdam via the waterfront. Rita points out several important buildings, such as the new Science Museum, built on a noticeable slant.

We reboard the ship in time for a late lunch. The afternoon is spent packing and preparing for departure. We are treated to a string quartet concert on board before supper featuring four young musicians, students I am sure at the local university. They are great, but of course their program plays it extremely safe. I honestly think I will be happy to never hear the Blue Danube again. The atmosphere is complemented by the beautiful lights of Amsterdam at night.

Around 10:30 pm, the Ruby moves out of the downtown harbour to a berth further down the river in Coenhaven, which will be our point of disembarkation. Werney had told me earlier that this move is simply because berths in Amsterdam main harbour are very expensive.

---

Photos

What do you think is made and sold here?
Zaanse Schans, near Amsterdam, Netherlands

Windmills on a polder
Zaanse Schans, near Amsterdam, Netherlands

On the second level of the windmill
Zaanse Schans, near Amsterdam, Netherlands

Cheese Market square
Edam, Netherlands

Detail of house
Edam, Netherlands

Cheese shop
Edam, Netherlands

Three young hooligans attack our bus
Edam, Netherlands