D25: Marken, Volendam and Windmills. Oh my!

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(Internet is pretty much still not working and worse than it was yesterday... so no photos for now. Hopefully Belgium brings better wifis)

Right, so against my better judgement I went on a tour with "Tours and Tickets" ... their Marken, Volendam and Windmills one. Really, I should have just taken the time to plan the trip myself because although each location was beautiful - the tour hit pretty much all my tour pet peeves. Unfortunately, the wifi at the hostel is pretty much down (works for 2 min every... hour? haha) So, I sucked it up and paid.

First stop was Maarken. The town was cute... but we didn't get to see much of it. We were herded along like cattle... ugh, the absolute biggest pet peeve of mine on tours. Such a pet peeve. Let me enjoy what I paid to enjoy.

The clog museum/store/factory whatever it was, was great fun because the guy who worked there was hilarious - joke after joke as he gave us a run down of the history of why they wear clogs, their use, etc. and he literally made a pair while talking to us about it. He also told us about the traditions around them - such as asking a woman to marry you by carving a special pair and leaving them at her door. Aw.

Ferry ride from Maarken to Volendam took a lot longer than expected which was problematic since I was in the sun. I... got a tad burned today..? Of course, the day it pours rain half the day, and is mostly overcast, is the day I get a burn.

Volendam was a cute little town. We went to the "Cheese Factory"... which really is a giant cheese store. But they did explain how they make the cheese, and they do make it on the premises, so it was interesting nevertheless. Although I have to say seeing the cheese in the brine is not overly appetizing.

They also provided free samples of all the different types of gouda they have... holy cow, the amount of cheese I ate haha. They were all fantastic though. Well no. That's a lie. The pesto flavoured one was a little odd... but all the others I happily could have bought. They also have various jams, dips and sauces to put with your cheese - I'd never really heard of that, but the flavours mixed well together. Yum.

We were then brought to a restaurant where it was HIGHLY RECOMMENDED we eat. (*eyeroll of all eyerolls*) But we did have an hour to do as we liked if we didn't want to eat at the AMAZING (overpriced) restaurant. Ahem.

I roamed around the harbour, had some fun watching some dogs play in the water (a Newfie!! and a German Shepherd! Perfect), and visited the old fish auction house which had a little video and display about the history of the village and its fishing roots.

I also listened to their birds... they scream. Like. AHHHHHHH. It's spooky and weird and funny all at the same time.

For lunch I decided to be adventurous... I kept seeing those herring places around Amsterdam and since I was in Volendam I figured they'd be fresher here. Now. I thought I wasn't overly fond of herring... let alone pickled herring... but it was some of the best fish I have ever had haha. Only problem of course is that it's the gift that keeps on giving - almost 12 hours later and a burp still tastes like herring. Yum.

We went to see the windmills last and I am legit p'od about how they went about it. It was raining, hard, (oh boo-hoo, bring an umbrella) so they took the "long way" to let us see the windmills from afar first, rather than afterwards. They then dropped us off at 4:50... the windmills you can visit close at 5pm. Yeah. Guess if any of us got in? Yeah. Nope. And even at that, the stop was ridiculous... we had 45min to visit the area and that was barely enough time without actually visiting the inside. Way too rushed.

It was picturesque though. Not only were there all the windmills, but also a bunch of livestock so I had fun watching the sheep, goats and chickens during my whole extra 5 min at the end 😉 They also had a great sign to discourage tourists from feeding the animals: "If we eat too much bread we will be dead." To the point, yes haha.

So. That was the majority of my day. Beautiful, beautiful places. Interesting facts. Horrible "tour".

I then did a canal cruise which was much better, but really, you can't screw that up as a tour company. The canals are just beautiful here though - it's neat passing through the smaller ones, going under bridges so low you probably couldn't stand on the benches (or even on the floor), seeing the houseboats (and having their occupants wave hello at you), seeing all the old warehouses, etc. etc. Very scenic.

I also had amazing seat-mates who kept me on my toes: a father and his two sons, from Australia. They were a very chatty bunch (particularly the older son who was around 12-14yrs old), but it was welcome chatter. We actually talked a lot about Paris - they had just been and were going back.

The entire convo started when the younger son saw my telephone case (Doctor Who) which launched us into a big discussion, of course 😊

They also had a the coolest idea going - they were leaving messages in a bottle in the cities along the coast. When they visited the Caribbean two years back and left a note, they eventually got a reply from someone. I think that's so cool - the two boys were so excited to drop this one off too haha.

So, that's that. Tomorrow I'm off to Belgium... I don't know why I keep making my birthday a "in transit" day instead of being in one spot I can actually enjoy haha. Oh well. I'll make my own fun 😊

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