Europe 2012- Day 13: The Zaanse Schanse

Wednesday I decided to take Dave and Kristie to The Zaanse Schanse, which is a little Dutch village just north of Amsterdam. This village has several museums that show how the Dutch people lived long ago. 

We had to get up nice and early to drop Nate off for work before heading north. I punched the address into the GPS but it couldn’t find it. Luckily I had written down some basic directions. I started by just directing the GPS to the city it was located in. I was hoping to find signs but I realized that we had gotten off the freeway to soon. So we headed north on surface streets. Eventually we started seeing signs and we followed them until we found the village.

This is an unusual sight to see in Europe.

It may look like some type of grass/moss but it's just scum on top of the canal. I'm guessing they have had a few people walk in before since they don't usually warn people of things they think you should already know. .  . like don't try walking on the canal.

Entrance to the village is free, but there are several museums that you have to pay to go into. As it started to rain we rushed into the wooden shoe museum which was free. This was one of the main reasons I wanted to go there, was to see how they made the wooden shoes.

Dave found some wooden shoes that fit ... although that might be a bit too much growing room.

As we walked into the museum we saw many cases of different kinds of wooden shoes. The first case had shoes from different regions of Holland. Then they had a case of just Sunday clogs, and one for wedding shoes. The creativity that went into some of these shoes was awesome.

Regional clogs from Holland

This clog is from the Zeeland area, which is where my family ancestry is from

Here are work clogs. I really liked the work boot clogs and the ice clogs with spikes on the bottom. They even had special clogs for smuggling things. They had a special compartment build into the shoe, and on top of that the bottom was carved so that your foot prints looked like they were headed in the opposite direction . . . brilliant!

Sunday clogs

This pair of Sunday clogs is awesome

These are wedding clogs.

These clogs are fun. Clogs made into violins, roller skates, and ice skates. High heel clogs and ones painted like feel and more, so creative.

Then we got to watch a demonstration of them making a shoe. They start with a block of either poplar or willow wood when it’s still green (60% water)so it cuts easily, like cheese. They place the block of wood in a machine that is a copying lathe. Like making a key it glides over the guide and cuts the block of wood so that the outside is the rough shape of the shoe. A second machine is then used in a similar way to drill out the inside of the shoe. Lastly they use a long knife to cut off the extra wooden nubs on both ends of the shoe. 

From log to clog

This machine was invented by the Germans

This is a French machine

This large knife used to be used to carve the entire outside of the clogs, but now it's just used for finishing touches.

These clogs would fit a 3-4 year old child

The wooden shoes then have to air dry slowly for up to 3 weeks in which time a pair of clogs can lose up to 1.5 liters of water. After they are dry they are sanded, lacquered, and decorated. What used to take a master craftsman 2-3 hours to make, can now be done in less than 5 minutes.

In 1997 the Dutch clog even earned the right to be called the “Official Safety Shoe” after it passed a series of tests in which it’s tested for heat loss, extreme heat, water resistance, pressure test, a nail test, and a fall test. It even fared better than its modern rival the steel reinforced work shoes.

We also learned that wooden shoes are worn with thick wool socks. For a perfect fit you should have a 1 finger width gap at the back of your heel between the shoe and you. And although they may seem outdated they are still widely used by Dutch farmers. 

Next we went into a Bakery museum followed by a cheese farm. In the cheese farm they have many different kinds of cheese that they make there, and you can sample and buy them. I bought some smoked cheese that I really liked.

Kristie pretending to mix bread dough. I think a trough full of dough is even more bread the Kristie usually makes.

Cheese!

Cheeses at different stages

It finally stopped raining, so we ventured out towards the windmills. Dave was really interested in seeing the saw mill, so we went there first. The saw mill that was originally in the village was demolished in 1942, but in 2007 using detailed drawings they reconstructed it. They built the mill traditionally using wooden pegs instead of nails, as well as tools from days of old. They did however use cranes to help hoist everything in place. 

The saw mill was really interesting. They only saw about 5 logs per day, which isn’t very much, but they do take orders from people as they can make the boards to any thickness you like. The money they make helps to offset the cost to keep up the mill.

Each push/pull of the saw cuts around 1 centimeter

Bowling anyone?

Here is a view of the saw mill

The next mill we visited was an oil mill. Used to crush peanuts (or other nuts/seeds) and make oil. The nuts were first crushed by a 5,000 kilogram stone wheel, after which they are heated on a stove. The heated mass is then put into wool bags which are covered in horsehair and leather. They are then put into the striking ram where they are pounded and pressed.

Due to the low wages they would go do the process a second time  to make sure they got every bit of oil possible. The cakes of residue that were left over after pressing out the oil were sold as cattle fodder.

The oil mill on the left and the dye mill on the right

These wheels crush the nuts/seeds

On the right are the striking rams that press out the oils.

The left over that is sold as cattle fodder.

The oil windmill we were able to go up and see the gears turning, and even got to watch them adjust the wind sails to catch the wind so it would turn faster.

This duck was interesting with a mohawk

After walking around a bit more, we decided that it was time for lunch. There were a couple different options there, and we decided to try out a pancake shop. Kristie and I both thought a pancake with ham and cheese sounded a bit odd, so we decided to split one as well as split an apple and cinnamon pancake. They were both good, and a very Dutch thing to eat.

After lunch we headed back towards Eindhoven. Since we had dropped Nate off at work, we wanted to be back no later than 5 PM. As it turned out he had to work really late and he didn’t get off until 7:15 PM.

We saw an ASML truck on the way home

The Kia dealer had an extra large inflatable and regular version of that car.