Zaanse Schans Museum [with Lu "Russian"]

Some months ago I started to follow a travel blog written by a Brazilian girl. She had lived 5 years abroad (Europe and USA) and then 6 years in St. Petersburg, Russia. The last couple of years she has been living in Brazil (S.P. region) and still travels a lot. In her blog she always tells her experiences and very amusing stories, with a relaxed style. It is like a friend telling you her adventures. For exemple: many secrets about the way of living that the Russians would prefer to keep for themselves, I suppose. Although I was a lurker and never placed comments on her blog, she noticed I was visiting her a lot and started to follow my blog (and place comments) in return. I think we became mutual admirers.

In December she announced she was coming to Amsterdam, and would also make a tour in other countries. Finally we met each other yesterday in the Centraal Station in Amsterdam. I could recognize Lu the minute I saw her walking fast in the middle of the crowd. I grabbed her by the arm and shouted: "Hey, why do you travel so much ?"She had a shock and then laughed. Another Brazilian girl, commentator of her blog and who is living in Holland also showed up: "Cuca". Both very talkative and cheerful, it was for me like meeting very old friends !! We decided not to loose one single minute: why not take a train to visit the open air museum Zaanse Schans ?

Do all Brazilian girls have long hair ?

New buildings downtown Zaandam (above and below).

(Of course I have been there before. My wedding photos were made there in the morning of the warmest day in July 2002, with windmills on the background, waving from a bridge or sitting under a willow tree with the ducks and swans around the two pigeons in love - gezellig. I have also posed for photos together with some Japanese tourists who then thought I was somebody famous in Holland. I gave them some autographs as well. Ach, waarom niet ? )

From Amsterdam you can take the bus # 91 or take the train direction Koog Zaandijk (I paid 2,20 euros for a train ticket - single trip). The entrance to the open air museum is free - although some attraction may charge a small fee entrance. You can visit mustard windmills, a clog factory, a cheese factory and much more.

Friday was cold, sunny and dry, perfect fo such a visit. Living the trein station in Koog Zaandijk it is a small walk up to Zaanse Schans. I have make some photos but not so many as the other two girls. It was refreshing to play the tourist for a while. We noticed how different our accents were but could get along very well.



This is a reprodcution of the first Albert Heijn supermarket in the Netherlands. You can visit it inside. Like other painted buildings in the area, the official colour is this shade of green. I think it is called "Zaanse groen".

Below: a cheese factory. If you like cheese, welcome to cheese paradise. Cheese with herbs, with garlic, with cumin, smoked, goat cheese, porcelain, souvenirs... en dat zo dingen.

The next photos are from a Clog museum.

Above and below: a shop with old stuff and some antiques.

If you wish to know more about De Zaanse Schans go to: http://www.zaanseschansmuseum.nl/

To visit Cuca's blog go to: www.achadosdeumaperdida.blogspot.com

To visit Luciana's blog go to:
http://www.garotinharuiva.wordpress.com/ In her last posts she tells her adventures in Amsterdam, Belgium, Morocco and Danemark during Dec.2009/January 2010. She started her blog in 2002 and so far has organized several bloggers' meetings in Brazil. Luciana is always recognized on the streets and very sincere about her experiences with the locals abroad. She hasn't loose her fresh looks into things, she hasn't become a cynical. I specially like her principles about what NOT to photograph and NOT to experience.

Saturday Lu is going to Dusseldorf and then on Sunday she is flying back to Brazil. I think whithin some days next week she will be writing about the Zaanse Schans in her blog. It was very nice meeting you girls !!

Excursion: Amsterdam Historisch Museum

Yesterday I have had my last Dutch lesson. In order to have the perfect closing we headed at 11a.m. to the Amsterdam Historisch Museum for an excursion with a guide, especially for our group. Although we still have some lessons next week before our exams in the end of this month, this excursion helps to understand and give life to what we have learned about the city. I think I have been 4 times at the Historisch Museum, during my first years in the NL. The collection is formed by more of 65.000 objects and is displayed in a much more interesting way now. Yesterday I didn't have time to take pics AND make notes, so probably I will pay another visit to this museum in the short future and come back here to update this post with more notes.

The museum is housed in magnificent buildings,

once the city Orphanage.

The collection consists of paintings, prints, marquettes,

objects and archelogical finds and shows how Amsterdam grew

from a small medieval town to a world famous centre.

But let's begin from the beginning, shall we ?

We start with the Regent's room...

above and below: ceiling, detail

Medieval Aemstelle

above and below: door, detail

Maritime power...

Fine porcelain...

Aaaah, I love tiles, antique Dutch tiles

(AND Portuguese azulejos, Spanish tiles or Moroccan ones... )

Charlotte's tone of hair matches very well with the tones of this work of art, where an old map of the early settlement of Amsterdam is depicted.

(A bit of history now: Although modern historians do not exclude the possibility that during the Roman period some form of settlement existed at the mouth of the Amstel River, no evidence of one has ever been found. So far as is known, Amsterdam originated as a small fishing village in the 13th century ad. To protect themselves from floods, the early inhabitants had to build dikes on both sides of the river Aemstell, and about 1270 they built a dam between these dikes.)

Amsterdam old City Hall, Gothic style

Above: Paleis op de Dam, maquette

Guide Tourya explain us about this painting where the new Amsterdam City Hall being built(XVII century) is depicted.

Detail from picture above. On the left side some of the nieukomers in Amsterdam: on the left side a Portuguese Jewish family is depicted. On the right side some oriental characters, probably Christian Armenians.

(Click on any of the photos from this post in order to enlarge them)

No, this is not a painting... or almost.

That's the outside view from one of the windows at the museum.

Pretty, huh ?
Ta-da !

And here we are, the whole group - or almost - showing our happy little faces.

The tallest guy in the middle is, of course, our proud Dutch teacher.

Mission accomplished !