Zanse Shans

23 September 2017

We may not be the run of the mill "tourists" but this fact did not hold me back from the quintessential visit to Zanse Shans, or as visitors know it, the fundamental windmills of Holland!!

Here we are again fixing a low bloodsugar and trying some local Genever(which is basically a type of Gin) but has more malt wine in it typically. Subtle differences, but still made out of Juniper berries!! More to come on that in the another blog post.

The sunniest day picked us for our visit, but really it was the only day we had time enough to make to the trip North to visit, but this also brought hoards of other visitors. Was a fantastic prelude to winter, the sun was warm and the breeze was refreshing. Could not have been better autumn day!!

Set up in an early style town, it definitely catered to the tourist! But we enjoyed it as well.

I am not sure if Ken is hiding from the sun, or the selfie.........??

Then to get away (from the crowds) we took a hike along the Polders!!! A polder is a bog like area that normally has been reclaimed by seawater but is usually protected by dikes. These are all over in the Netherlands!! The conditions allow neat flora and fauna to grow and thrive here!

Then, because the ticket price included it: We also visited the Zaanse Museum and chocolate factory- see below!! Here is a link to the actual museum: https://zaansmuseum.nl/english/

The museum was built to highlight and protect the history, art and areas of the Zaan(River) area. As times changed, so did the needs of the area. The mills and factories slowly stopped exporting as much when the towns around them began manufacturing their own goods and products.

Some of these machines are original(and still work!) from the 1800's!!

And then the Biscuit and Chocolate Factory!!

So much history that this blog post is so long already and I don't even know how to cover it all!!!

Back in Haarlem we found a nice Italian Restaurant and had pizza, ordering it cut into slices, and again.......it came whole and we had to do it ourselves. Sigh. They must know we are "tourists."

Then we found a shortcut through an alley that brought us quickly back to our Airbnb location!
Time for bed!!!!