And windmills, cheese and history

We decided today to head out of Amsterdam and have a look at some of the nearby countryside. It was another cold and grey day, again about 8 degrees but no rain, which was great.

After breakfast, we caught the tram into central station and from there caught the train out to Zaanse Schans. Zaanse Schans is an open air style museum of a re-created 17th century Dutch town complete with windmills and canals as they would have originally been. It was very picturesque and good to be able to see inside a working windmill. We learnt a bit about Dutch history on the way as well as tasting (and buying) some yummy cheese, watched a demonstration on clog making and ate some very cute windmill shaped chocolates from the chocolate factory. We had a very enjoyable morning wandering around

appreciating the beautiful scenery and then headed back to Amsterdam.

We had managed to book tickets to Anne Frank’s house at 3pm and came out of there feeling very appreciative of the freedom we enjoy in our lives. It was very sobering to walk through this group of rooms and to think that 8 people lived here for almost 2 years, never venturing outside and were discovered and subsequently died in concentration camps only a couple of months before the end of the war.

After Anne Frank’s house we decided we should explore some areas of Amsterdam we hadn’t yet seen properly so we went to Dam square for a look around. The girls picked up some cones of chips on the way which they declared were very yummy. Dam square was a bustling hive of activity with live musicians, people dressed as the grim reaper and, in front of the royal palace, horse and carts waiting to take people for a ride.

After Dam square we decided to check out Leidseplein as we had read this was another bustling area in Amsterdam. As we were trying to work out how to get there a local

stopped to give us directions – “walk this direction for 3 minutes then turn right at the T junction, go over 3 canals and then turn left”!! We decided to hop on the number 2 tram instead! Leidseplein was not as big as we had expected but was beautifully lit with Christmas lights and bustling with people. We sat outside a pub – complete with outdoor heaters and lap rugs – for a drink and a rest. Decided on supermarket pizzas for dinner so from Leidesplein we caught the tram back to the supermarket near our apartment, stocked up on food and wine before walking home.

By this time it was 7pm and the wind-chill factor was making it feel like Norway temperatures again!! The pizzas were delicious washed down with some red wine then we caught up with photos and chatted about our day before heading to bed.