We have arrived at our first marina of the year with WiFi, and it is a joy to not have to fight with the T-Mobile service. For some reason, it just has been fading in and out this year. Bill suspects that the technology has improved and we need to replace the dongle with a newer one, we'll look into that. On the bright side, I think this will let me down load photos much more efficiently, so here goes . . . .
We left Haarlem last Sunday, despite Bill not liking to travel on weekends, and it was truly a day of rest on the water for us. Commercial barges were nearly non-existent, and the only real issue we had to deal with was the high speed ferry between Amsterdam and Ijmuiden.
Arrived in Zaandam just north of Amsterdam and stayed for several days. Not much there to see. Mostly very new and somewhat "imaginative" modern architecture in the town.
The town's claim to fame seems to be that Russian Czar Peter the Great came here incognito to study Dutch boat building techniques. The last Czar sent funds to build a brick structure around the falling-apart tiny wooden house where Czar Peter lived while he was here. We walked past it every day on the way to the market.
Then later in the week we were on our way a short distance north to Zaanstad and the outdoor museum Zaanse Schans just the other side of the river Zaan. This was the first "industrial" area in the country, and they celebrate it by this lovely little museum, much like Williamsburg in feel, that shows the original manufacturing processes for goods like chocolate, wooden shoes, bakeries (for marine stores like hardtack biscuits), mills that produce construction materials, paints, oils, linoleum, all sorts of things.
I'd been here about 20 years ago with my friend Jeannet, and it was a small but lovely little working museum village.
Well, it's sort of changed. Every building seems to be mostly a store. Great for generating revenue, but very tourist-y. However, like Williamsburg, you can walk around without paying an entry fee, and any place where they're looking for your business you get to wander through free.
After we'd wandered through pretty much all the streets and shops, we headed north along the river where the mills are set up, and they took a pedestrian ferry to the other side of the Zaan and walked the streets filled with old houses there.
It was pretty quiet being Sunday, but we had a light lunch at a sweet little eatery just before we crossed the draw bridge to return the the museum and our marina which is conveniently just across the street. They had essentially a deli set up with foods made in house, mostly vegetarian, and all organic. You chose between 3 plate sizes and they filled the plate up with your choice from what they had available that day. The tables were set up in the garden where they seemed to be starting to grow some of the produce they used. Crockery and cutlery were homey and mis-matched old fashioned china. Very sweet and they had a reasonable cross-section of newer bistro style food with a few traditional Dutch recipes.
I seem to be noticing a pattern developing regarding the places where we dock. We certainly enjoy the amenities of the newer, more modern marinas, but the really delightful places are a bit out of the way and not as sleek. Where we are now is in an industrial side channel of the Zaan, factories and storage buildings more than anything else.
But if you look in the other direction there's a darling little Zaan style village, complete with church and counterweight bridge.
The folks here are extraordinarily friendly and helpful as well. Sometimes the folks at the more modern places just don't have the time or energy for that.
Don't know where we're headed tomorrow yet. Will probably head back and moor in the Amsterdam harbor near the Central Station at some point, but other than that no real plans. We went into Amsterdam for the day by train earlier in the week just for a change of pace - only 10 minutes to the center of the city! Took us longer to walk to the station. Surprisingly, Bill really enjoyed it. Usually he's the first one to want to head for the country rather than congestion.
Anyway, that should be it for today. I'll try to get some photos attached before I post this. Tot ziens, y-all, and take care.
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