Marken, Volendam, and Windmills

So.. Matt and I did a trip out of Amsterdam for a morning which did the highlights of the surrounding countryside. For anyone who has already been to Amsterdam and has done a trip out to see everything - you probably did this trip or at least something similar to it!



First up was Marken which we were able to visit a clog maker which was actually pretty neat to see. We tried on some clogs and learnt about how they are used as "engagement" clogs (like rings). Apparently a man would carve a set of clogs for his lady and then leave them outside her door at night. If the clogs were taken inside, then they were considered engaged - however if they were still there... well.. sucks to be the guy?

Next up was small quaint fishing village which also happened to have a cheese factory. This naturally was the highlight of the tour for Matt.. it was like a department store (with samples) all about and for cheese! His biggest disappointment was we didn't really have the space to take home any large samples.

We also had lunch of fish which was amazingly good - watch the foodie blog for that update - before we moved along to witness some of the last remaining windmills in Holland (less than 2,000 when there used to be over 30,000 just in the area outside of Amsterdam)

The windmills were used for pumping water to maintain reclaimed land, grind flour, spices etc. and to even power industry such as cutting wood for ship building. The Dutch were able to build a ship within 3 weeks when it was taking the rest of the world 3 months!