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Day 666, 30 Mar '16, Zaanse Schans (Windmills, Zaans Museum, Clog Display, Spice mill), Haarlem (Frans Hals Museum, Teylors Museum, Grote Markt, Historic Museum Clothing Exhibition).
It has been said, but we don't believe it, that no one has ever died from too much sightseeing. It probably just didn't make the papers. We were up with an alarm clock this morning and on the tram to Centraal Station by 7.45 am. Made it huffing and puffing onto a bus at 8.10 am then got off at the last stop - Zaanse Schans. Or Windmill Heaven as it could fairly be renamed. By 9 am there were already half a dozen coaches parked and tour groups roaming about, but still relatively uncrowded. The wind was making easy work of turning the massive historic windmills and we explored the spice mill in particular. And the cheese shop - nothing like a friendly woman from the UK to ply us with loads of cheeses and mustards. We poked our noses into the wooden shoe/clog display and had a laugh - there was a Japanese tour group with a translator. The bloke doing the display said something like "Goodmorning and welcome to this display of how to hand make a wooden shoe" and the translator launched into at least 3 minutes of Japanese. After that the demonstrator just gave up and kept talking letting the Japanese go on in the background. We took a look at the Zaans Museum and Verkade chocolate pavilion - both crazy-full of information, got a souvenir bar of chocolate for a) €1 and b) emergencies, then hopped on the bus for the hours drive back to Centraal. (Chocolate got it in the neck... it was an emergency!) Had lunch at home then we walked to another bus station for the bus out to Haarlem. Funnily enough, Harlem is about half an hour from the end of the line (the beach resort of Zaandort). But we were both snoozing in the sun for the 40 minute drive. Luckily opened our eyes 1 stop before we were due to get off. Haarlem is just as picturesque as Amsterdam - just minus the canals. We started out at the Frans Hals musuem which has a special seasonal display on at the moment. Every year art students are invited to design vases which are then kept full of stunning fresh flowers in keeping with the art and history of the museum - glorious. Took more photos of the floral displays than the art on the walls. From there it was a quick look in the Historical Museum which had a super clothing exhibition - but all the commentary was in Dutch which took the shine of it a bit. Final museum for the day was the eclectic, exotic Teylors Museum. Like a natural history museum for a gadget and rock enthusiast who likes art. All stashed in the most amazing house. Strolled the loop to get to the Grote Markt - which nowadays isn't a market - just Haarlem's big square. Through the shops, on the bus and conked out until the bus pulled into Centraal Station. Suspect the driver thinks we don't actually have a place to stay. Ahh well... "Rest" Day tomorrow. At the very least a "No Museums" Day.
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