 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| The afternoon at Zaanse Schans provided some interesting demonstrations. Noah and Rachel loved seeing wooden shoes produced on machines and seeing peanut oil made in a mill (grind the nuts, heat them up, and pound out the oil!). There was also a small pewter shop and an old grocery story to visit. |
| If you want to read more about the history of the cheese market (kaas markt) and Alkmaar, click here. There is also a cheese market in Gouda on Thursdays. It is supposed to be smaller, but similar. |
| Every Friday morning from April until the first Friday in September a "traditional" cheese market is held in Alkmaar (located northwest of Amsterdam). The market is set up on the main square as wheels of cheese are unloaded from trucks onto burlap covered sections. The crowds of people start gathering before the 10 a.m. start. While we arrived early, we barely held space for the kids to have front row viewing. The market commences with cheese being sampled by guys in long white coats (we called them the cheese doctors!) and then taken by sleigh load (see below) to the weigh house and then unloaded onto a pushcart (below right). The carts are then pushed around the corner and loaded back onto the trucks. The whole process is complete by 12:30. |
| After lunch (from a sidewalk stand) in Alkmaar we headed south to Zaanse Schans. It is an open-air museum with working windmills, a small cheese farm, village shops and a wooden shoe mini-museum/demonstration/shop. The kids had fun (left) acting out the cheese market ritual after having just watched the real thing. This was not real cheese but yellow wooden rounds! |
| Of course a favorite part of any outing is eating!!! A Dutch treat of poffertjes hits the spot for Rachel. The small, sweet pancakes are made on a specially shaped griddle (left) and then coated in powdered sugar or other sweet topping. A plate of 10-12 is often considered a serving. |
| A day playing tourist in Alkmaar and Zaanse Schans |
| Above Grandad and Laurie climbed into the wooden shoe (de klomp) for a photo op with the kids. By the end of the day, Laurie and kids had a pair (smaller than the one pictured here) of shoes for themselves! |