Taking a tour - Charming Holland

We decide to see what is in the countryside outside of Amsterdam so we pay for a tour called 'The Charm of Holland'.  It will be 8.5 hours and we start at 9:15 am.  It consists of a bus full of people and our guide Elsa.  She speaks very good English but since there are two ladies from Spain on the bus she will also speak Spanish.  She is very fluent in both and very informative.

 Beautiful homes in Edam. This a fairly wealthy area.  

Back in the day it was a sign of wealth to serve tea or coffee and these little rooms on the property was where they would serve the tea or coffee to their guests.

This a good example of a lock on a small canal.  The whole country is a system of canals.

Gorgeous flowers everywhere makes it very camera friendly.

A cheese shop.  Notice the great big rounds of cheese in the window?

Hard at work moving cheese...

Then on to Volendam where we are treated to a glass of wine and cheese tasting after a short explanation on the making of cheese.

A cheese lovers haven!

Then we go for a 30 minute boat ride to Marken for lunch and a visit to a wooden shoe factory.

The typical dress of the area however I'm sure back in the day she would have wooden shoes on!

Demonstration of making wooden shoes.  They are made out of a block of Balsam wood.

Pretty difficult to tuck a pair of these in size nine in my suitcase!  I settled for a fridge magnet.

Other uses for wooden shoes...

Pretty!

The look on this cow's face says it all!

Then out to visit the windmills...not a particularly warm day...

We toured one of the windmills that makes different oils...this day they were producing peanut oil.  The windmill was built in 1607 and originally used in draining water from the land.  Then in 1672 they started using them for other purposes.  There were originally about 30 and now there are four.  They are used for producing chalk, lumber, oil and cocoa.

One of the shops with girls dressed in period costume.  Waffles here are amazing.

We arrive back in Amsterdam a wee bit cold and tired.  Here is a beautiful building by the train station.

This is the train station.  Very well planned out with trams and buses leaving from the station.

And then we decide to go to the Anne Frank museum.  Waited approximately an hour in line which wasn't too bad according to some of the waits being up to 3 hours.

The museum was very memorable.  Glad we saw it.  When we got out it was 9:30 and we were tired.  When we got to the main road called Damsk and half way home we decide to treat ourselves to a beer.  I just about fell over when he gave us the bill!  My pint was 9 euros!  He said it was because we were sitting in the main square.  I guess the people watching was worth it and of course you're treated to a good dose of marijuana while drinking your beer....on the house!