Old Retired Guy Blog

June 25 - 28, 2010

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Amsterdam (Page 2 of 3)

I know what you're thinking.  What about the tulips and windmills?  Doesn't Holland have tulips and windmills?  Well, you're right.  Tulips, windmills, and Holland go together like ___________________ (Fill in the blank with your favorite go-together!). 

Our hotel was located fairly close to a flower market so we stopped to visit it a couple of times when we were out walking.  There were bulbs for every conceivable color and variety of tulip.  They also sold wooden tulips, apparently for those with black thumbs or who have friends with poor vision.  There were no fresh ones, of course, since it wasn't tulip season.

There were other fresh flowers, dried flowers, flower seeds, and garden art.  And, for old and new hippies alike, they even sold marijuana starter kits.  Yes, marijuana is legal in The Netherlands.  Interestingly enough, the people were not walking around all drug-crazed and in a stupor.  Maybe legal marijuana is not the end of civilization as we know it.

The Netherlands certainly has windmills.  Many of them look just like the ones that you can see in farm fields across the US.  That's not what we were looking for, of course.  We wanted to see the old ones with their four sails slowly turning in the wind.  Though there were thousands in The Netherlands at one time, most of them are gone now.  So, one day we took a train from Amsterdam to the small town of Zaanse Schans.  It's a bit of a touristy place, but there you can see windmills that have been operating for hundreds of years.  Some are in their original locations.  Others have been brought to this location to preserve them when threatened by development.

For a few Euros you can tour a windmill and climb up to the deck for a good view across the adjacent land and the Zaans River.

'Amsterdam'
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