Vaarwel Amsterdam
Zaanse Schans is a collection of historic windmills and wooden houses that were relocated for preservation from across the north of Amsterdam. In leaving the train and walking toward the village, we passed the large deZaan Cocoa plant. It could have been Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory we were passing given the luxurious aroma of melted chocolate filling the air.
Love the shoe rack filled with Dutch wooden clogs.
Just some of Zaanse Schans’ collection of windmills.
The De Kat mill was built in 1664.
The De Kat mineral mill continues to produce high quality paints and pigments.
The enclosed room keeps the various pigments separated.
Heading up.
Everything made of wood.
Love the thatched roof and the cloth sails.
At the end of the day, we give Zaanse Schans a C. It tops most lists of places you must visit while in Holland, but if someone is pressed for time, you could skip this place without much heartburn..
Since we were already out, we decided to return to Amsterdam for a third and final time.
On Saturday I enjoyed the bitterballen at Vegan Temple Bar so much so that I wanted to have them again. Amanda found that Vegan Junk Food Bar (VJFB) also made them, so we decided to give VJFB a try.
VJFB offered traditional, Thai, and mac ‘n’ cheese. I liked the traditional and Thai, but I’m surprised to report that the mac ‘n’ cheese version was the clear winner.
Check out how you enter this underground parking garage.
Wild!
Next we walked through the Bloemenmarkt (flower market).
There were plenty of packaged vegan stroopwafels, but this was the only place where they made them fresh to-order.
Amanda had Oreo sprinkles on her chocolate and I had hazelnuts—delicious.
Having already visited The American Book Center and Waterstones in Spui Square on Wednesday, we, of course, had to visit The English Bookshop today. Most bookstores in The Netherlands largely offer books in Dutch. These three shops were exceptions.
We had dinner at Sukhothai Thanee Thai food.
This was an upscale place so we didn’t want to take a bunch of photos. When we were at our hotel in Khao Sok National Park with John and Sabrina in March, John introduced us to the Thai papaya salad and it was amazing. We tried it again here and it was as wonderful as it was in Thailand. Thanks for the recommendation John! The middle dish is red curry with pumpkin. Our favorite was the far dish: stir-fried tofu, vegetables, and cashew nuts.
Dessert was sweet mango, sticky rice topped with coconut cream and crispy mung beans, and coconut ice cream with crispy mung beans. Everything was exceptional. (And yes, we ate entirely too much food today! But, hey, when in Amsterdam…)
We hadn’t realized it until Thursday evening, but in addition to all the buses and trams above ground, the city also operates the Amsterdam Metro. There was a station nearby, so we rode Metrolijn 52 back the train station—pretty futuristic. From there it was back to Haarlem. We used Saturday to do laundry and get ready for an early departure on Sunday morning for Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. We will remain eternally grateful for our amazing adventures in Holland! Next stop—Paris!
