Windmills, Chocolate & Cheese

Today another local tour guide, Chris took us and 3 other Americans outside town to a small village, De Zaansche Molen, with several functioning windmills. It was beautiful - on marshland similar to Louisiana, however all freshwater. Folks raise sheep and cows on the marshland with the water serving as fences. We got to visit inside a windmill that creates pigments for paint (one side of the shop is for artists only) and at the top saw how the miller turns a huge wheel (by walking on it!) to turn the top of the roof so the windmill is aligned with the wind. There was a sawmill windmill (can cut 40 boards at once, developed here and started the ship building industry which the Dutch are known for - Flying Dutchmen term applied to their fast ships). A peanut oil windmill, flour, spices, and chocolate! Even one windmill beside a modern day factory. Learned that brick rich, a term to describe the wealthy, was developed because the wealthier folks could have brick homes. And if something is described as 'pepper' is deemed expensive, fancy or rich looking as spices were very expensive back in the day. We visited Anne Frank's House - a somber yet poignant museum, which really immerses you into that time and her life as a young Jewish girl. Pictures aren't allowed but there are many on the website https://www.annefrank.org/nl/ After that visit we walked along the canals - beautiful 'dancing' buildings and garden or floral displays. And ended the night at the Cafe de Sluyswacht https://sluyswacht.nl/ which leans at quite an angle - as do many homes here giving that the city is built on marshland and pilings (or stilts) very much like New Orleans. Today we catch the train to Antwerp.Read more