Part 6: Windmills and wooden shoes...

You will find two items at the heart of Holland; windmills and wooden shoes. Granted while these cultural icons are often nestled in a perfectly manicured tourist trap and away from all the Dutch residents, you still have to go at least once.

So for our second day with Phil, we headed to the well-known and highly acclaimed “real” Dutch town called Zaanse Schans (we still haven’t figured out to pronounce that one).

Zaanse Schans is located just north of Amsterdam in a rural setting and host to a number of historic sites and shops.

As you drive in, the first notable landmarks were the three working windmills. All three have been in service for ~150 years and are still being used for their original purpose. Like you probably learned in grade school, windmills harness the wind and spin. Inside the windmill is a fairly elaborate gearing mechanism that transforms the power so it can be used for work. At the end of the gear, they typically attach a grindstone, saw, or pump.

We only visited one of the three windmills. This one is still used to grind soft stones to be used as pigment in paints. It is the only remaining “pigment-grinding-windmill” in the world.

The other two mills were used to pump water. This is the most common use for windmills and the reason the Dutch became so famous for using them. Sixty percent of Holland is under water, so early on the Dutch got quite good at building dikes and pumping out the water with windmills. So good, in fact, the Army Core of Engineers actually consulted Holland Levee Engineers when rebuilding New Orleans.

After strolling through the windmills, we found ourselves at the wooden shoe factory. This was a really interesting shop because the Dutch developed a way to automate the shoe making process. The days of hand carving a block of wood into a shoe are long gone. And, quite frankly, the days of wearing wooden shoes are long gone too. Nevertheless, the process involves tracing a finished shoe with a curser that is attached to a lathe, circular saw, and grinder.

After two minutes the craftsman has a perfectly copied replica that will never be used in practice, but instead bought by thousands of tourists for 10 euros per pair. Ahh, you gotta love capitalism – one guy gets a shoe, one guy gets rich, and everyone goes away happy.


Of course they have hundreds of variations: cowboy boots, painted shoes, high heels, sports cleats, etc. Like I mentioned before, a typical tourist trap – and yes – we got suckered into buying a pair.

The day ended just as anyone who knows Amanda and Phil would think it would end --- with a stop for ice cream. This stop was a little more exciting than the normal “Cold Stone Creamery”, because this guy has been in the same spot, selling the same ice cream for 32 years.