In this time of mourning our last day in Amsterdam, we had to pack up all of our belongings in our hotel room and make our way over to Rotterdam which is another city within the Netherlands. With a decently later start time than most days, we had to be at breakfast at 9:00AM and at the bus by 10:00 to be on our way in a timely manner. After a small breakfast consisting of tiny pancakes and orange juice, I packed up all of my stuff and headed out the door to the bus.

On our way to Rotterdam, we made a stop in Zaanse Schans, which houses one of the Henri Willig cheese farms and some old windmills as well. Here, we went on a little tour of Henri Willig’s farm where they housed so many animals such as goats and cows in which they get their milk from and tasted so many different flavors of the cheese that they offer. I tasted so many different types of goat and cow cheeses, that I even ended up buying for my family since the sealed cheese can last for a good bit of time even not being in the refrigerator! The rest of the little area of Zaanse Schans consisted of a plethora of different shops and stores, some were antique stores and others were clog making stores that sold clogs for a variety of different people.

Today’s adventures leading up to the arrival in Rotterdam allowed me to see firsthand the history and emphasis of sustainability within the Netherlands throughout all of their different corporations. Henri Willig, while having its own farms, also source only from farmers who meet the sustainable criteria in which they are promoting a certain standard to which they source their cheese. The older windmills all around the area also was a big pointer to how sustainable the Netherlands is especially with the old to modern additions of the wind farms that are spread all around the Netherlands.

The day finally ended with our arrival in Rotterdam and a meal of the finest food in all the land, McDonalds. Revving up for an early day tomorrow, so I’m hoping to get much rest.