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Today was supposed to be the day to go to Delft, the little town with the famous blue hand-painted pottery factory. We had skipped Zaanse Schans the day before due to lack of time, so were faced with a decision. After realizing it was Sunday, and looking up the Delft town website on Cees's trusty free internet terminal, we decided that the shops in town might be closed, and we didn't want to take the chance, since it was a pretty long trip there. Zaanse Schans it is.
We walked to the train station and Angie went up to the counter to get tickets. The lady told her Platform 8a, and a certain time. Angie asked how we will know if it's the right train? She said the trains always leave on time. If it's time, and the train is not leaving, it's not the right train. So, we troop up to Platform 8a, and get on the train. After a while, it was past time to leave, and the train wasn't going anywhere. So, we got off and Angie went to the information booth to ask the guy there. He said Platform 1. So, we went to Platform 1,
got on the train, the train left, and a guy came around to punch our tickets.
We stopped at the first stop, and Angie checked her little map to see if that stop was on our way. It was, so we figured we were on the right track. The next stop, however, was not on her map... she reasoned that maybe they don't show small stops in between. After about three more stops, we realized that we were not on the right train at all. So, we got off at this tiny little train station that's not even manned, and Angie went off to the little ticket machine to try to get us back to Centraal. The machine wouldn't take her credit card, so we got back on the train illegally and hoped no one would check our tickets. Once back at Centraal, she went and talked to someone again, and again they told her Platform 8a. So, we got to 8a, and low and behold, there's a sign (which had not been there before) that showed our destination. So, we got on, and a guy came around and punched our same tickets again. Apparently they don't even look
at the tickets. Two hours (for what should have been a half hour trip), and we finally arrived.
On the way back, our tickets already had two punches on them, so we were afraid that if someone came to punch them again, we would be in trouble. Luckily no one did, so we managed to illegally get back (again).
Zaanse Schans was a neat place. It's a re-created Dutch village with perfect little houses with perfect little lawns. We saw a guy out cutting his grass with hedge clipping scissors. They have five of the oldest working windmills there. I guess I never thought about it, but I didn't realize that each windmill had a purpose. I thought they were just used to harness energy like they are today. But back in the day, each one actually performed some kind of function inside (mustard grinding, dye grinding, etc). They also have a cheese factory there (and of course a store that sells all kinds of great cheese).
Off to the side, there was a large field where some sheep grazed. There was some kind of rivalry going on between the two of them... at first, we saw
them fighting -- butting each other's heads with their giant curled horns. Then later, one had the other bullied up against the fence... his horn was stuck in the fence and the other one just leaned on him everytime he tried to move. I guess he lost. I wonder how long he had to wait for the ref to call him down for the count.
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Mac
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Excursions
The train ride was not 2 hours to take a 30 minute trip, but an excursion to see sights not visited by most tourists. It was an unexpected bonus to see the realHolland :) Happy to see you are having such a good time. Mac