Blogs from Volendam, North Holland, Netherlands, Europe

Today was one of those days in which I finally got some tourist type things done. Vincent - check; windmills - check etc. Did the Vincent museum first - can we pronounce it properly first people? - it's van Gockh - not van Goh already. As I had a bus tour at 1pm decided I had better get down there the fastest way possible - well sort of, tram. I had seen a central conductor booth on one yesterday but neither of the two I got today had em so I just ended up not paying - wanted to, but you do not pay the driver. It had a recorded announcement to check out when you get off with your chipped card - well you do when you have one. Basically I was walking everywhere so ... read more

20km north-east of Amsterdam lies the fishing village of Volendam and, 1/2 hour offshore, the island of Marken. These villages still exude the charm and tradition of yesteryear and feature the original homes used for hundreds of years by its fisherman inhabitants. Once upon a time, the villages were host to men and women dressed in traditional garb - the men in balloon-shaped black woollen trousers and black caps, the women in voluminous black wool skirts and colourful embroidered aprons worn over the top, white cotton-embroidered shirts and white lace caps. Sometimes, depending on the wealth and status of the women, coils of gold were worn dangling at their temples. On the feet of all inhabitants were worn the wooden clogs indicative of their lives in their watery homes. These days, the last of the traditionally-dressed ... read more

Greetings from The Netherlands...errr, Holland...where dutch people ride bikes and from what I can guess, eat, sleep and live. We spent the fourth of July in Amsterdam where we took a Canal Tour and went to the Anne Frank House. All the streets had the mixture of the smell of marijuana, body odor, stagnant water and every so often, pastries. It rained off and on all day but it made the ambience of the city very nice. I must say that all these kooks who want to legalize marijuana back home just need to spend one sober day in Amsterdam and they'll change their minds, after bathing their entire bodies in that waterless hand sanitizer. On the lighter side, I did have a fantastic Dutch Trappist Ale called La Trappe Tripel with dinner last night ... read more

Volendam is a very touristy spot on the edge of a large lake north of Amsterdam. It is very popular for its array of traditional Dutch costume, wooden clogs and cheeses of all varieties. It was here is Volendam that we encountered a Dutch couple that looked uncannily similar to us - the four of us got along very well!!... read more

Our first stop is Zaanse Schans. The area was named 'De Zaanse Schans' after a trench was built in 1574 to hold back Spanish troops during the eighty year war between the Netherlands and Spain. Zaanse Schans was built up on dikes. The dikes were probably built as early as the thirteenth century, the first villages were built along these at a later date. Until late in the last century these were typical 'dike-villages'. In the beginning of the 18th century there were about 500 windmills in the area, of which very few are in operation today. Zaanse Schans has a few windmills that are operating and they include: an oil mill, a paint mill, a mustard mill and a sawmill. Other places to see include a cheese-making dairy, an old bakery, a grocer's shop, a ... read more