Sanger Cruiser Travel Log: July 26, 2015 - Best of Holland Tour - Zaanse Schans, Volendam, Marken, Delft & The Hague

Today we are doing The Best of Holland Tour. Our first stop was a little windmill village called Zaanse Schans.

They make paint at this one.

Your local saw mill.

We toured the peanut oil processor.

It was kind of cool to see how they work.

OSHA would not approve any of the workings that go on here. There were people from our tour group that kept telling Roger to watch out (in their respective languages) because they were worried that one of the mechanisms was going to come around and hit his head.

The steps to climb up to the top were very steep but to see the gears in action was totally worth it.

The big money maker is the restroom at 50 cent euro each. It actually was the cheapest one on the trip today.

They bring cacao up this river to a processing plant so the air smells of chocolate.

Our second stop was Volendam.

Where we visited a cheese factory store.

They rushed us out pretty quickly but we did get to try some different cheeses and make some purchases.

They gave us some time for lunch. Roger, Elaine & Fred had fish and chips.

I had the wiener schnitzel.

We could have spent more time walking around the town.

Then we took a boat over to Marken.

They let the rabbits mow and fertilize the lawn for them.

I would love to have a little shed like this.

Wooden shoes hanging out to dry.

We were given a demonstration on how they make the wooden shoes. He used the piece of Poplar wood that is at the bottom left of the picture and within just a few minutes had a shoe made.

They still wear the shoes since they are water resistant and offer protection from an animal's misstep.

From here we took the bus back to Amsterdam where we caught our afternoon tour bus.

Our first stop this afternoon was at the Royal Delft Blue pottery factory.

I don't think this style will make it big.

We watched as one of their master painters worked on a piece.

They do use a stencil to mark the design so that the design is consistent throughout the pieces. Before the piece is fired it is actually looks black not blue.

The orange in the designs is in respect of the Royal Family.

If the piece is a Royal Delft hand painted piece it will have the above markings on it.

They have a beautiful garden in the middle of the building.

Anytime the Royal family has a major moment the factory will make a piece to commemorate it. The first perfect piece that is fired is given to the Royal family then the rest are either sold or just put in the museum.

I would like some plates like these. At the price for a regular plate I know that I will never have a genuine hand painted piece even of the smallest size.

Isn't their car cute?

We then went to the old town center of Delft.

We didn't explore outside of the square since it was raining. We did go into a little cafe and have a warm drink and a piece of Dutch apple pie, which is not like the ones at home at all. It was not our favorite treat of our trip and we will not be ordering another one.