Day 355 – Haarlem, Zaandam, and Zaand Voort, the Netherlands (by Ben)
Posted by Ben Taylor on Thursday, June 23, 2011
The Events of Wednesday, June 15, 2011
What is stereotypical Holland? A windmill, surrounded by a blanket of red tulips, slowly turns near a glistening canal. Nearby is a cobbled road with half-timber-style homes and little shops. Girls dressed in traditional garb and wooden shoes bike by with fresh flowers in wicker baskets. To experience this old-time Dutch culture, we spent today at the open-air folk museum of Zaanse Schans in Zaandam. This park is a tourist’s dream: quaint, cultural experiences for a cheap price. After parking in the nearly full lot, we headed into the Zaans Museum to get some information. Although the grounds and a couple sights were free, most of the attractions charged an entrance fee. The Zaanse Schans card turned out to be the best deal, giving us discounted admission to the museum and the attractions we wanted to see.
Wandering through paths full of tour groups, we found our first stop: the Wooden Shoe workshop. Exhibits and artifacts thoroughly described every aspect of wooden shoes. First was the clog-making. A clog starts as a log, which is rounded into a cylindrical shape. Next, the “round” is carved into a “rough”, the crude shape of the shoe. Originally by hand (and now by machine), the shoe is then hollowed and drilled. After this stage, the shoe is completely shaped but not finished. Since the wood is still wet, the shoes must dry for a few weeks. Then they are sanded, lacquered, painted, and put on a shelf in the gift shop.
Wooden shoes offer great advantages. They are sturdy, adaptable, almost unbreakable, comfortable, and, with a straw insole and thick wool socks, warm in winter. Over the centuries, the wooden shoe has become the center of several traditions. In the Zaans region (named for the river Zaan), the shoes played a special role in weddings. As a ritual, the groom-to-be hand-carved shoes for the couple to wear on their wedding day. Several of these shoes were on display. Looking at the intricacy of the lace-like designs, one could see carving was definitely a work-intensive task.
The wooden shoes we saw came in all shapes, sizes, and varieties. There were huge pad-like shoes for working in the bogs, specially painted “Sunday” shoes, ice shoes (with small cleats), and more modern designs. Among these were speed-skates, smuggler’s shoes (which made a backwards footprint), and shoes decorated with modern art.
Twice we interrupted our visit for shoe-making demonstrations. We joined the standing crowd to watch the presenter work modern machinery to make wooden shoes. The machinery was ingenious and, at least for me, fascinating. They took every measure to ensure that a customer would get two identical shoes.
We exited into the gift shop, which was larger than the exhibit area. With this much tourist business, the souvenir shops (which outnumber attractions) are thriving. Sadly, lots of the charm of this park has been lost to commercialism. Lindsey and Abby purchased key chains with wooden clogs on them as souvenirs of the Netherlands. Then we headed over to the cheese farm.
Upon entering, we found an unmanned machine stirring the curds. A video above explained the cheese-making process. The process is very much like that we saw in the Wisconsin cheese factory. One unique feature of Dutch cheese is that the one-kilogram rounds are hand-packed in small bins and then pressed for two hours. That makes for some pretty dense cheese. After the exhibit, we headed into the huge gift shop, again bigger than the exhibit itself. We joined the line of tourists tasting the cheese. Some were unspectacular, but most were in some way interesting. We enjoyed two unique flavors: green Pesto cheese and powerful Garlic & Herb. One of the other samples, the Stroopwafels, was amazing. It was a thin wafer-like waffle with a sticky, sugary inside. We loved them so much that we purchased a packet of ten for lunch.
There are seven windmills along the river, with a great variety of products: oil, grain, paper, paint, etc. We took a vote and decided to head to De Zoeker, an oil mill. We showed our tickets and headed through to the dimly lit interior. Since the sails were turning, we headed quickly up to the top level. There, we enjoyed a great view of Zaanse Schans, the Zaan River, and the other windmills standing on the riverfront. The four huge sails rotated slowly, turning the shafts inside. If the mill were operating today, the turning of the sails would have operated all the machinery in the mill complex. Quite an engineering feat!
When the wind died down and the sails stopped turning, we headed inside to view the machinery. Dodging low ceilings and other obstacles, we explored the complex gear systems that create oil. All the actual oil production occurs on the lower level; the top level is just for the gears. Millers shovel the peanuts under the two massive millstones, which grind them into an oily peanut pulp. A stove heats the pulp, which is then put into a leather bag. A complex system squeezes the bags with pounding beams, pressing wedges, and releasing wedges, separating the oil from the pulp. The workers then put the leftover pulp under the millstones again to extract more oil. In the end, they send the dry pulp to feed the cattle.
Upon exiting the mill, the skies opened up. We found refuge in the museum and used the free restrooms. Then we ate our picnic lunch on benches under the cover of an overhang. It was an unspectacular meal except for dessert—the stroopwafels. They were sugary, doughy, and melt-in-your-mouth delicious. With stomachs full of this delicious treat, we headed into the museum.
The museum consisted of several huge collections of all sorts of memorabilia and artifacts from the Zaans region. It was rather dry, since there wasn’t much information in English. However, as we wandered, we did find a few interesting spots. The first was a long film demonstrating the many steps of donning a traditional 18th century Zaan outfit. A typical lady wore eleven items on her head, nine on her torso, seven layers below the waist, and eight different items of jewelry or accessories. This cumbersome dressing process required two servants to carefully fit and pin each layer. This dressing process must have been miserable.
After two more strange videos and other dry exhibits, we entered the most entertaining section: interactive games about peanut processing. Each TV-sized touchscreen taught about a different aspect of production. There was the laboratory, the design of the factory, the process of coating and baking the peanuts, and the packaging and shipping business. Even though all the instructions and text were in Dutch, we were able to figure out and, in some cases, master the games. After a good half hour of fun, we decided it was time to move on…to more interactive games.
The Volkade Factory made everything from chocolate to biscuits (cookies) to “waxines”, little votive candles. Wandering from exhibit to exhibit, we found out exactly how each treat was made and enjoyed some fun interactive games.
The first game was about the biscuits; as cookies moved by on the touchscreen, we dragged them into boxes. It was a repetitive task and not very interesting, but made for some good competition. The next game required a bit more skill and teamwork. At each of four stations, a computerized job correlated to the job of a Volkade biscuit-factory worker. We kids made a good team of four, each manning our own crank or switch, cranking out 93,296 biscuits. That’s more than a master baker does! We are awesome.
The final game was just as mundane but addictive as the first one. Here, instead of biscuits, we were packing bonbons into tins. After a ten or more tries, our fingertips burned from dragging them over the screen so many times…but we ranked in the day’s top 100‼ After thoroughly exhausting our minds and burning our fingertips, we headed to the beach at Zaand Voort.
We stopped here for just half an hour. Compared to Zaanse Schans, this beach seemed completely tourist-free – except for us. We took off our socks and shoes to enjoy the warm sand slipping between our toes. The beach was a vast sandy expanse full of Dutch kids and clear slimy jellyfish. Luckily, their tentacles were down, but that didn’t stop us from stepping on them a couple times! It was a fun last site for our time in the Netherlands.
For our last dinner in the Netherlands, we headed to Ikea. Nothing like a good traditional Dutch meal, right? Unlike other restaurants in Holland, this restaurant was filled, not with tourists, but with real Dutch people. Even though the food was Swedish, this was a way to really experience Dutch culture. Ordering here was much easier than our last Ikea experience in Spain. Everyone spoke relatively good English. We enjoyed four meals of meatballs with fries and two meals of chicken on a stick with a sweet Thai sauce. It was all scrumptious. For dessert, we tried some puffy cream pastries, soft-serve ice cream, and other pastries with an indescribably delicious taste. Overstuffed, we headed back to our StayOkay Hostel and packed our bags in preparation for our move to Germany tomorrow.
What is stereotypical Holland? A windmill, surrounded by a blanket of red tulips, slowly turns near a glistening canal. Nearby is a cobbled road with half-timber-style homes and little shops. Girls dressed in traditional garb and wooden shoes bike by with fresh flowers in wicker baskets. To experience this old-time Dutch culture, we spent today at the open-air folk museum of Zaanse Schans in Zaandam. This park is a tourist’s dream: quaint, cultural experiences for a cheap price. After parking in the nearly full lot, we headed into the Zaans Museum to get some information. Although the grounds and a couple sights were free, most of the attractions charged an entrance fee. The Zaanse Schans card turned out to be the best deal, giving us discounted admission to the museum and the attractions we wanted to see.
Wandering through paths full of tour groups, we found our first stop: the Wooden Shoe workshop. Exhibits and artifacts thoroughly described every aspect of wooden shoes. First was the clog-making. A clog starts as a log, which is rounded into a cylindrical shape. Next, the “round” is carved into a “rough”, the crude shape of the shoe. Originally by hand (and now by machine), the shoe is then hollowed and drilled. After this stage, the shoe is completely shaped but not finished. Since the wood is still wet, the shoes must dry for a few weeks. Then they are sanded, lacquered, painted, and put on a shelf in the gift shop.
Wooden shoes offer great advantages. They are sturdy, adaptable, almost unbreakable, comfortable, and, with a straw insole and thick wool socks, warm in winter. Over the centuries, the wooden shoe has become the center of several traditions. In the Zaans region (named for the river Zaan), the shoes played a special role in weddings. As a ritual, the groom-to-be hand-carved shoes for the couple to wear on their wedding day. Several of these shoes were on display. Looking at the intricacy of the lace-like designs, one could see carving was definitely a work-intensive task.
The wooden shoes we saw came in all shapes, sizes, and varieties. There were huge pad-like shoes for working in the bogs, specially painted “Sunday” shoes, ice shoes (with small cleats), and more modern designs. Among these were speed-skates, smuggler’s shoes (which made a backwards footprint), and shoes decorated with modern art.
Twice we interrupted our visit for shoe-making demonstrations. We joined the standing crowd to watch the presenter work modern machinery to make wooden shoes. The machinery was ingenious and, at least for me, fascinating. They took every measure to ensure that a customer would get two identical shoes.
We exited into the gift shop, which was larger than the exhibit area. With this much tourist business, the souvenir shops (which outnumber attractions) are thriving. Sadly, lots of the charm of this park has been lost to commercialism. Lindsey and Abby purchased key chains with wooden clogs on them as souvenirs of the Netherlands. Then we headed over to the cheese farm.
Upon entering, we found an unmanned machine stirring the curds. A video above explained the cheese-making process. The process is very much like that we saw in the Wisconsin cheese factory. One unique feature of Dutch cheese is that the one-kilogram rounds are hand-packed in small bins and then pressed for two hours. That makes for some pretty dense cheese. After the exhibit, we headed into the huge gift shop, again bigger than the exhibit itself. We joined the line of tourists tasting the cheese. Some were unspectacular, but most were in some way interesting. We enjoyed two unique flavors: green Pesto cheese and powerful Garlic & Herb. One of the other samples, the Stroopwafels, was amazing. It was a thin wafer-like waffle with a sticky, sugary inside. We loved them so much that we purchased a packet of ten for lunch.
There are seven windmills along the river, with a great variety of products: oil, grain, paper, paint, etc. We took a vote and decided to head to De Zoeker, an oil mill. We showed our tickets and headed through to the dimly lit interior. Since the sails were turning, we headed quickly up to the top level. There, we enjoyed a great view of Zaanse Schans, the Zaan River, and the other windmills standing on the riverfront. The four huge sails rotated slowly, turning the shafts inside. If the mill were operating today, the turning of the sails would have operated all the machinery in the mill complex. Quite an engineering feat!
When the wind died down and the sails stopped turning, we headed inside to view the machinery. Dodging low ceilings and other obstacles, we explored the complex gear systems that create oil. All the actual oil production occurs on the lower level; the top level is just for the gears. Millers shovel the peanuts under the two massive millstones, which grind them into an oily peanut pulp. A stove heats the pulp, which is then put into a leather bag. A complex system squeezes the bags with pounding beams, pressing wedges, and releasing wedges, separating the oil from the pulp. The workers then put the leftover pulp under the millstones again to extract more oil. In the end, they send the dry pulp to feed the cattle.
Upon exiting the mill, the skies opened up. We found refuge in the museum and used the free restrooms. Then we ate our picnic lunch on benches under the cover of an overhang. It was an unspectacular meal except for dessert—the stroopwafels. They were sugary, doughy, and melt-in-your-mouth delicious. With stomachs full of this delicious treat, we headed into the museum.
The museum consisted of several huge collections of all sorts of memorabilia and artifacts from the Zaans region. It was rather dry, since there wasn’t much information in English. However, as we wandered, we did find a few interesting spots. The first was a long film demonstrating the many steps of donning a traditional 18th century Zaan outfit. A typical lady wore eleven items on her head, nine on her torso, seven layers below the waist, and eight different items of jewelry or accessories. This cumbersome dressing process required two servants to carefully fit and pin each layer. This dressing process must have been miserable.
After two more strange videos and other dry exhibits, we entered the most entertaining section: interactive games about peanut processing. Each TV-sized touchscreen taught about a different aspect of production. There was the laboratory, the design of the factory, the process of coating and baking the peanuts, and the packaging and shipping business. Even though all the instructions and text were in Dutch, we were able to figure out and, in some cases, master the games. After a good half hour of fun, we decided it was time to move on…to more interactive games.
The Volkade Factory made everything from chocolate to biscuits (cookies) to “waxines”, little votive candles. Wandering from exhibit to exhibit, we found out exactly how each treat was made and enjoyed some fun interactive games.
The first game was about the biscuits; as cookies moved by on the touchscreen, we dragged them into boxes. It was a repetitive task and not very interesting, but made for some good competition. The next game required a bit more skill and teamwork. At each of four stations, a computerized job correlated to the job of a Volkade biscuit-factory worker. We kids made a good team of four, each manning our own crank or switch, cranking out 93,296 biscuits. That’s more than a master baker does! We are awesome.
The final game was just as mundane but addictive as the first one. Here, instead of biscuits, we were packing bonbons into tins. After a ten or more tries, our fingertips burned from dragging them over the screen so many times…but we ranked in the day’s top 100‼ After thoroughly exhausting our minds and burning our fingertips, we headed to the beach at Zaand Voort.
We stopped here for just half an hour. Compared to Zaanse Schans, this beach seemed completely tourist-free – except for us. We took off our socks and shoes to enjoy the warm sand slipping between our toes. The beach was a vast sandy expanse full of Dutch kids and clear slimy jellyfish. Luckily, their tentacles were down, but that didn’t stop us from stepping on them a couple times! It was a fun last site for our time in the Netherlands.
For our last dinner in the Netherlands, we headed to Ikea. Nothing like a good traditional Dutch meal, right? Unlike other restaurants in Holland, this restaurant was filled, not with tourists, but with real Dutch people. Even though the food was Swedish, this was a way to really experience Dutch culture. Ordering here was much easier than our last Ikea experience in Spain. Everyone spoke relatively good English. We enjoyed four meals of meatballs with fries and two meals of chicken on a stick with a sweet Thai sauce. It was all scrumptious. For dessert, we tried some puffy cream pastries, soft-serve ice cream, and other pastries with an indescribably delicious taste. Overstuffed, we headed back to our StayOkay Hostel and packed our bags in preparation for our move to Germany tomorrow.