More Photos From Holland

I loved those buildings in Amsterdam...I want to go back.

Beautifully carved Klompen.....

Fancy Klompen......

A little canal down the street from Tante Bets' house....where we stayed in Sassenheim.

Some cows from a little dairy in town that sold wonderful locally made cheese.

Me enjoying an echte Heineken...in a brown bottle! (Green bottles are for export)

Martin and my husband, Richard, standing in front of the house where their mother and her 13 siblings were born and raised.

Inside A Windmill

While in Holland, we visited Zaanse Schans......a place where 17th Century windmills have been preserved and can be toured by the public. These mills are still fully functional and are wonderful examples of early technology. They are situated along the river Zaan. This one is a dye mill and is called "De Kat".

I took this shot from the main "deck" of the mill. This is the big capstan wheel which is used to turn the 15 ton cap (which houses the sail rig) into the wind.

These particular windmills are covered with thatch. Thatch generally lasts about 50 years before it has to be replaced....which is a lot better than our asphalt shingles which only last about 20!

Inside, it was kind of like being in a well built barn. There were huge timberframes and narrow staircases going up to the higher levels. The wind wasn't blowing much the day we were there, so the gears weren't engaged. It enabled me to get better photos this way!

These are the actual millstones which grind the pigments into powder. They were huge! I can't imagine how they got them into place. I'm guessing they were close to four feet high.


I can't believe I climbed up (and down) these narrow, steep stairs!

There were so many pulleys and ropes....it made me think of being on an old ship!

Here are the gears that weren't engaged. Normally, one side would be touching the middle, since the power comes from the middle shaft. But like I said...it wasn't very windy that day.
I'm assuming all could be running at once on a good day.

I think it's great that the actual gears are made of wood, and not metal.

This shot I got while coming down one of the narrow staircases. I thought, "Hey! What a great shot!"

Photos From Holland

This was my first trip to Europe, and since my husband is from Dutch parents, we went to Holland! Here is a photo taken in Amsterdam...a fascinating city!

Another photo taken in Amsterdam:

Of course the typical architecture one would expect to see in Amsterdam:

Another shot along one of the many canals. We took a canal tour in one of the tourboats. The city gets its name from the river Amstel, on which it was originally built around.

Here was my very first encounter with a real windmill! I wanted to go in, but this one has been renovated and made into a private home.

Here was another windmill that I got to go in! It's one of the restored windmills (originally built in the 16-1700s) that is at Zaanse Schans. The windmills were moved from various locations in order to preserve them and educate people about them. Zaanse Schans is something like "Black Creek Pioneer Village" where they preserve a little bit of the past and show you how things were once done in the "old" days.

This one here is called "De Kat", for reasons I couldn't discover, but it's used as a dye mill. Its powerful mill wheels grind pigments.
I took a lot of photos of the inside of it!


This is a little "tourist" windmill at the gardens of the Keukenhof. I went inside it too, but its mill wheels etc. have been removed and wider staircases have been put in.

But from it I could see this beautiful view:

The Keukenhof has thousands of beautiful gardens! I had the chance to photograph many different flowers. My favorites are Daffodils.



Of course I had to have the typical tourist photo taken of myself sitting in a giant wooden shoe!