The windmills of Zaanse Schans and the WTF weather of Holland in the fall

Hello. The crew is back from a day with the windmills. Zaanse Schans is lovely spot about 15 minutes from our home base in Zaandam. It kind of reminds me of an amusement park but instead of rides, it has windmills. We began our visit in its museum, which was filled with artifacts and info from the days when windmills were used to actually make stuff, rather than be relegated to the subject of a 1000-piece puzzle.  The museum felt a bit like the Mill City Musuem in Minneapolis and we all enjoyed its contents. George discovered an entire section devoted to a bizarre story of a poor pregnant Dutch woman, whose red cow hated her so much that it impaled its horns into her abdomen, c-sectioning her in mid air. There were several paintings, china patterns, and other ornamentation with the scene imprinted on them. The baby was sometimes depicted flying through the air with her and in other renderings, it lay naked and stunned on the ground. I bought a set 12 of the china pattern in the gift shop. 

Know what else is weird? Dutch weather. Before we left for the trip, weather apps were showing rain every day, so we prepared for the worst. And we have gotten it, but for only 3 or 4 minutes at a time. For two days now, the atmosphere swings wildly from calm, sunny days to torrential rain and hurricane winds, bending our umbrellas inside out. But just wait 3 minutes and the sun is shining again. No wind. Nothing. Is this normal? I thought Minnesota weather was unpredictable but the Netherlands has us beat, and soundly. I’ve never added and stripped layers as frequently as I did today. The weather right now is sunny, fyi. Actually sunsetty.

Here’s more about windmills. At Zaanse Schans, they are filled with stores, which either specialize in a particular ware (cheese!, wooden shoes!, chess sets?) or the art of selling souvenirs to people like me. I did buy a windmill magnet (it spins!). Oh and I lied about the chess sets.  No chess set shop. Sorry. Other windmills are functional and you can tour them to see how they work. These we just peeked in to because either they were crowded or the admission fee was too steep. I mean 5 Euro to see the oil-making windmill? Actually, now that I’m writing this, it sounds pretty interesting. Dang it. Too late. We did leave Zaanse Schans with a healthy amount of wind-related photos and hair styles - so worth it.

Doubling back on yesterday’s post: I found out why the buildings are so green in this region (not environmentally friendly (((although maybe they are))) but actually the color green). “Green used to be generally cheaper, while red, for instance, was an expensive color. In the Victorian age, the British Queen Victoria decreed that there should be more uniformity in the appearance of English buildings. This architectural trend was picked up in the Dutch Zaan region as well.” [Courtesy of the Zaanse Schans map and info booklet] Folks here are still green-obsessed today. Traditions and all that.

Mom and mill

More mills and half cloudy/half sunny Nether

View from the lake. And some guy photobombing my idyllic scene.

Zaans green

Stylish and affordable

My favorite detail

This duck followed George around

Cheese!

My new shoes

That poor c-sectioned Dutch lady (see baby in mud on ground)

Mama and baby flying through the air

Museum exhibit

Obligatory selfie

A dapper George ready for action

The good old red, white and blue, Dutch style