Ah, Amsterdam. There more bicycles than people in this city. Places
called coffee shops are not intended for coffee drinking; you drink
coffee in cafés and smoke weed in coffee shops. They even have
marijuana-infused vodka. And lots and lots of cheese. I've eaten more
cheese in the last couple of days than I care to admit. And Drostes
chocolate and fries with mayonnaise and so much more.
Amsterdam is very far north, more northern than Juno, Alaska. Therefore,
the days are very long right now--the sun comes out around 4:30 AM and
it stays light until a bit after 11:00 PM. Eating dinner at an outdoor
cafe at 10:00 PM feels quite normal at this point. Walking around at 9:30 at night feels like walking in the laste afternoon, there is that much light.
Went on a tour
to a little historic town named Zaanse Schans (don't even ask me how to
pronounce it because every other word in Dutch sounds like you are
trying to clear your throat). The town has several old-style windmills
that are still working. We were able to watch a wind-powered saw mill
cutting a log into planks--it saws one millimeter each time the blades
go up and down. All the working parts of the saw and the windmill
including the gears, are all wood (well, except for the saw blades, of
course), and the cap of the windmill is thatched. To control the speed
of the wind vanes, to prevent friction from starting a fire or to make the vanes go a bit faster in low wind, they furl
and unfurl sails on the vanes. The whole thing was pretty interesting.
Then
we went to Volendam, which is a quaint fishing village, rather touristy
in some ways but quite pretty anyway. We decided to be silly and had
our photo taken in traditional Dutch dress-- I am playing an accordion
and my sister is holding a basket of cheese. We both look like we've had
too much beer (which was not the case). If you can't do this kind of
stuff when you are an old lady then when can you?
The last stop
on the tour was in the village of Marken, which is another of the quaint
villages on the tourist must-see list, where we went to a place that
makes wooden shoes. Frankly, it has never occurred to me to wonder how
wooden shoes are made but now I am fully educated should anyone else
want to know. And no, I do not plan to bring home a pair for each of my
friends--I barely have room in my luggage for the photos we bought.
The next day we walked around town. The big highlight was the Museum of Bags and Purses, which has items from the 1600's to the present and some fun short films. I was absolutely entranced (no surprise there). And they had a lovely (!) gift shop. Wanted to buy at least 6 handbags but didn't.
Wandered through the flower market and was so sad that I can't bring home bulbs--California just will not permit it. But oh my, the gorgeous variety of tulips and amaryllis and peonies.
Ended the day at a fabulous Indonesian restaurant, Long Pura, and had a magnificent ristofel meal (which means rice table and consists of a bunch of dishes that you sample with side condiments). We waddled out of the place so full but waaaaay happy.
Tomorrow we seriously have to decide on where we want to go next. We have a little over a week and a half left and can go pretty much anywhere that whim dictates. At the moment we are thinking of Bruges for 4 days followed by 4 days in Paris, but the trains are still on strike in Paris so we aren't sure. Gotta make hotel reservations tomorrow so we'll figure it out by then. Tune in for the next exciting episode.
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