Amsterdam 2016 ~ Zaanse Schans

Our second destination of our Europe Trip 2016 was the Netherlands.

Early in the morning, we visited Zaanse Schans, which is a picturesque re-creation of a late 19th century Dutch Village, located on the outskirts of Amsterdam. 

I am so thankful for the weather that day, the bright blue skies and billowy white clouds combined with the dreamy windmills along the river, made all our photos look picture-perfect! Indeed, everywhere we glanced was like a picture straight out of a postcard. 

Postcard perfect picture!

We only had a short two hours to explore the place. But the scenery was so incredibly breathtaking, we didn't know where to start! So we took a lot of pictures with the huge windmills alongside the river - the striking green windmill with its enormous wind blades in the background made for a dramatic backdrop.  

If there were any more time, we could have taken a short cruise on the river and visit each of the windmills which some are actually still functioning with a purpose.

Other than the windmills, we also visited the clog-making workshop (Klompenmakerij De Zaanse Schans) to see the live demonstration of wooden clog making. There were also many interesting souvenirs being sold here. We bought a cute little fabric Dutch dolly for Hayley here. Too bad, we were short on time and there was a long queue so we didn't get to take pictures with the giant wooden clogs outside of the workshop.

We also visited a cheese shop where we got to try various flavours of cheese! Of course, we bought some Edam cheese to bring back home. Yummy!

Next: Volendam