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Canals, Windmills, Cheese and Clogs

The Van Gogh Museum was well worth the visit, although the one painting I was really looking forward to seeing was not on display at the time (Starry night).

Of course, photos were not permitted in the gallery, but we were able to take a photo with the blown up version of Sunflowers. I’ve heard some comments about the flower just above me, apparently it resembles something from the female anatomy.

From what I interpreted in the exhibition, Ol’ Vincent had a man crush on Ol’ Gaugin when he was living in Paris. Guagin rejected his advances and he subsequently proceeded to cut off part of his ear. Hmmm, makes sense.

 
Just behind the museum is the I Amsterdam sign. I took a photo there already earlier this year, so above is a picture of some Heineken bicycles used to deliver the amber nectar all over the city.

Later on we decided to take an excursion out to the countryside to visit windmills, cheese producers, clog makers and eat kibbeling by the seaside.

Here I am in Schans where the windmills here are still using wind power to mill grain and produce artisanal products. The wind mill we visited was a producer of peanut oil. What this producer makes in a year, 6000L, a modern day factory can produce in one day.

Over in Volendam they showed us how to create Dutch cheeses, such as Edam and Gouda in all flavours. The lady who gave the presentation looked about 45 years old, but in fact was 74 years old thanks to drinking a glass of whey every morning for her whole life.

As a waterside town, the visit would not be complete without a seafood lunch. The body of water here is actually a landlocked freshwater lake, the largest one in Europe. It was created after to dykes were made to block out the sea to the north and the one to the west.

This is a mixed plate of seafood, with the famous kibbeling fish. There were mussels, calamari, scampi and kibbeling.

We took a ferry over to Marken to check out how clogs are made.

Hop in!

These clogs are finished but are hung here to dry.

Clogs are traditionally carved out by hand, but these days a machine does an efficient job of it.

A visit to Amsterdam would not be complete without a trip to the Red Light District. I will let you ponder the goings-on in that area for yourself, but I’ll leave you with a few photos.

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