Let me take you to Zaanse Schans or Zaandam in The Netherlands. It's a lovely culture - rich place in the city of Zaan in Amsterdam. If you happen to be in Amsterdam on tour, pay this place a visit and get to know what made the Dutch economy pretty evolved.
You could just take a train and get off at Koog- Zaandijk Station. We went there by car and if you happen to already be an expat living in Holland you'll probably be happy to know that there's a FREE parking lot across from the Station Street which is across from the train station that is just 15 minutes a walk away from the Zaanse Schans and just left to its entrance is the Koger tunnel. Go through it and be surprise and you'll bump into these in there .
Those are embossed arts of traditional Netherish' houses. Netherish are what actually people in The Netherlands should be called instead of the familiar "Dutch" according to a post written by @oaldamster which you can find here @oaldamster/moi. If you have experienced flying business class with KLM you've probably had one of those tiny ceramic Netherish's houses as souvenirs from KLM Dutch Airlines. On the other side we bumped along what we call a sidecar in the Philippines and Bike Tuk Tuk in Thailand. This is the Netherish's version of it - their "Biketaxi - pretty modern. I was just curious why it's painted green instead of orange - the Netherish's national color. We chose to walk to show you where to go in case you decided to go on foot since it's just a 15 minute stroll - it's good for the heart ;).
Just a few steps ahead I bumped into this. A sign that says Bike Rent in many different languages.
Yes, you could also bike to the Schans for a day. I asked the sleepy owner who was leaning on the wall under the window below that shows the street name - if I may take a picture of it and obviously - she let me. I bid her thanks and trailed along Station Straat which is the name of the street.
A few steps more from her I bumped into these tiles. The Netherish are too artsy would you agree?
Autumn is hinting he's on the way you could tell from the fallen leaves on the side of the road. A few more steps and these tiles keep showing. So just follow the tiles.
At the end of Station Street, turn left and you'll find more of those tiles and you'll know you're near cause you'll probably see swarms of Orientals walking opposite your way. To your right you'll see a mill at the end of the road next to a stop light. You'll know you're just steps away from the Schans.
And look what I found on the pavement next to that mill which is actually a residence - a block. Scanning ... for bitcoin - mining .. mining ... nope - not working. :D
We crossed the road and I took another shop shot of the mill. It was 30 degrees that day, the sun is pretty up so you could see. If you were facing the mill at the end of the road then you'll notice the bridge to your left and the red concrete pavement beside the sidewalk you are standing on. That's where you should be if you were on a bike. That'a a bike path. The Netherlands is very organized you should know that traffic on foot, bikes and cars alike all have certain traffic rules to follow. Go up the bridge and you'll finally get a peek of the Schans' Mills.
A few steps at the foot of the bridge is the alley that would lead you to the Zaanse Schaans. There is no entrance fee in the alley - you could just walk in and look around. Traditional Netherish's dwellings mostly painted in green would greet you at the clearing. I guess, now I get it why the bike taxi was painted green as well. Perhaps, a long time ago, the Netherish's houses were painted so, too. It wasn't crowded when we got there because a week before, it was gloomy so there's not much of a swarm of tourists that day.
The first house is actually a museum which we passed on a chance of going in having seen from it's open door that it's all about pics of the mills and the people involved. It was hot and we were craving for something cold so we went in the next house with the sign board "Albert Hein" which is the first Netherish's supermarket to score a cold drink but this is what it actually looked like inside.
So we moved on passed by a few outdoor restaurants, a hotel - yes you can actually spend a night in The Schans. Some of the houses along the banks are actually hotels.
A few steps ahead, I saw a crowd around a funny looking wagon. An ice cream bike creatively adorned and I find things like these very attractive so I ran to it and asked hub to take a pic of me beside it. The owner who was talking to someone who just bought a scoop of his ice cream suddenly approached me asking for a 0.20 euro cent saying; "Picture? You - 0.20 euro cent pay!" in a broken English with a weird accent you could tell he is a foreigner himself. It's not much money ... in fact it's cheaper than the 0.50 euro cent that I have to pay to go to the toilet there but his tone and way of telling me that fended me off. He added; " You - no speak English?" I took hub's hand and just walked away trying to kill the irritation that was building up inside me. Hub then said; "Strange.. very, very strange." shaking his head so I had to say; " Honey, let's shake him off our heads, shall we besides, I've actually managed to take a good shot of it? We came here to have fun remember? We're shooting two birds in one shot today let's let nobody spoil this for us. We went on strolling saying "Happy thoughts.. happy thoughts .. and ended laughing about it.
And off we went, me tailing him just because I want to have him on the pics but he beat me with his strides. T.T
We bumped into a Bell shop which sells bells for the bikes so the people on foot could hear you coming and I suppose this is where they return the bikes rented from near the Koger tunnel since I saw a row of the very same bikes standing in front of the shop. The bells are again very creatively made so like children, we couldn't help but start ringing them. Who do you think is the promoter?
A few steps away, we saw a sign board that says "Cacaolab". Like kids, we headed running for the door with the idea of scoring chocolates. They do sell chocolates there and they also show how chocolates where made before. A blond girl ( I forgot asking her name)excitedly showed us how to peel roasted cacao nibs and explained how they used to do it the old fashioned way. It was just hub and I in there so we bugged them to tell us more. I took more snap shots of old chocolate packaging while hub went tasting. Yes, there are FREEBIES!!! That's how it is here in The Netherlands, you could always taste test a product before buying and if it happens that it's not ok for your liking you could just politely say - it's not for you just don't forget to say thank you.
The girl went back to help her colleague coating fruits with chocs and I noticed they were selling fruited water, too. Hub saw the chocolate coated caramel waffles which made us make amends with sugar since we might get tired strolling the place in the heat. We shared one chocolate coated waffle which I only had a bite of since I really am not a fan of sugar. I however, gave in to the irresistible dark chocolate coated strawberries and fruited water. I asked the girls whether I could take a pic of them while they do it saying I'm writing this for Steemit and they're okay with it adding they even saw themselves in a documentary somewhere sometime ago so yes I may. So here are the lovely, very friendly ladies of the Cacaolab in Zaanse Schans who'll give you an all smiles service when you go there.
And this is me happily enjoying my orange - raspberry water and dark chocolate coated strawberries.
Soon enough, we had to bid the ladies goodbye and thank them for the hospitality since a group of Koreans (I speak their language so I could tell.) swarmed in. we ate our chocolates outside before they keep melting. We saw a few others at the back of the Cacaolab where we ate our sweets up and get to score a closer pic of the mills.
We then headed for the cheese store where we were greeted by a colorful stack of shopping baskets , the smell of delicious cheese and a smiling Spanish dame trying to speak Netherish. We caught her when hub and I started asking questions about whether those cheese came from Gouda and she kindly answered in a broken Dutch. We asked very friendly whether she's a Netherish and she reluctantly told us, she's Spanish. Oh well, the Netherish's national costume suits her well.
The Cheese shop sells souvenirs, cheese and chocolates and as usual - there's plenty you could taste test on! How generous of the Netherish's right? Now, hold that greed ;). Most tourist tried almost every cheese on the saucers of taste test. I wanted to try the goat cheese with lavenders but it was already almost empty before I could get to it so I went back to my favorite smoked goat cheese. I took a few strips, I get windy from dairy cause like most Asians I'm lactose intolerant.
I bought this for my fridge. 
At the other entrance of the shop, we found old milk tins that reminds me of the milk tins that were used to ration us free milk back when I was young in Marcos' time even after he declared martial law in the Philippines. As early as four years old, I remember falling in line to get free milk from those tin cans. I wonder what happened? Unlike the Netherish's I've only managed to grow as tall as 5'2".
We went out and headed for the mills. And here they are.
I heard someone playing the accordion and indeed. A Netherish's wearing what they call "klompen" or woodensandals and a neckerchief with a wooden sandal neckerchief holder playing it. Hub started swaying, I asked if I could take a pic of him. He said yes. They chatted about the mill behind him which is being restored and is probably his residence. Hub stuffed the tip cup and we bid him goodbye and wished him a great day. He just leveled up our happy mode.
We moved on to the next mills and I bumped into a Mommy swan with her young.
On the way back, a French guy, ( I heard him speak to his gf sitting on the shadow) and an Asian woman taking pics of the swan, too.
I noticed a sign that says "hot and cold drinks." I went in and asked for a cold "chocomel", a traditional Netherish's chocolate milk drink." They're sold out said the lady tending the store. T.T huhuhuh
Next time, I'll take you on the boat ride to get to take a closer look at the mills and those Netherish's monumental houses and their history on banks of the other side of the river in the Zaanse Schans with me . If you like travel posts like these, FOLLOW me @englishtchrivy
Some of the pics were taken by my hub @stevendenie who hasn't blogged further due to pressure with work. Sighs. He's the one who encourage me to join Steemit.