Today’s trip was to Zaanse Schans, a little farming town known for its windmills, cheese, and clogs. Once we got to Zaanse Schans, we were able to see the windmills and farmhouses and everything else. Before we went into the tour we learned about the business aspect of the town and how it’s managed to stay around after all these years. They rely on tourism as the main source of income. As a free exhibit, this can be tricky but they do this by offering many souvenirs to remember your time here and also by partnering with tour guides and giving them a commission as an incentive for them to convince the tourists to buy more. They also offer incentives for people to live by the windmills to maintain them and keep the beautiful.

We started our tour with a trip to the clog farmhouse where we learned about how clogs are made by hand. To make clogs nowadays they use machines that can get the shape of the clog done in five minutes using two different machines, one the spins and shapes the outside, and then one that scrapes out the inside. Once the clog is made it must dry for many weeks so that it can become hard and durable. Fun fact: they are still used after 100s of years because of their durability. After the clogs, we went inside the sawmill located inside the windmill. It was really coo to see how the wind activated a pulley system on the inside that was then used to cut the wood. Finally, we had pancakes for lunch at it was delicious. I was surprised by what the pancakes looked like because they were much bigger and flatter than the ones I’m used to in the states. After that we wend to the biscuit and chocolate museum which showed the unique geography of Zaanse Schans and why it was like that and how it was used to the advantage of the farmers. Fun fact #2, this entire area is below sea level. The museum also showed off many paintings and art pieces from the area which were all beautiful. Lastly, there was the chocolate and biscuit making machines that were really cool to see because you saw each step of the process in making these desserts which reminded me of our class when we identified steps in the supply chain.