Day 3 in the Netherlands was full of rain and windmills. Today the group visited an open-air windmill museum called Zaanse Schans. One business principle that I learned during our time at the museum was how the museum generates revenue. Our tour guide Phillipe told us that most of the money comes from pictures that staff take throughout the park and sell on the way out. This practice is something I recognized from amusement park rides in America and the margins of taking and printing a picture are high and is common practice. One thing that differed from American practices was offering your guides commission in gift shops. When purchasing items I was asked where I was from. The workers ask this so they know what group we were in and can give commission to the tour guide of the group. This practice encourages tour guides to lead their groups to the gift shop so that both the shops and themselves will make money. 

Although I am not an engineer the windmills were fascinating. The mills that we toured were for cutting logs into planks for prefabricated houses. It was amazing to see the intricate design of the mills. It was even more amazing realizing most of the mills in the museum were built in the 16th and 17th centuries before steam power was even introduced. Although their purpose in the Dutch economy is not as large as they had been in years past the mills produce products like paper and wood that help with the costs of the museum. Another interesting event that I saw today was the making of clogs, a traditional Dutch shoe. Although they are made of wood clogs are very comfortable and provide lots of utility through different designs. In one example, the clog is made with a hook on the end for fishermen to help them stretch their nets when fishing. After a long a rainy day I hope to get some good rest as our group’s excursion tomorrow is at 6:15 a.m local time.