JordanandMorganHatch: Zaanse Schans, The Netherlands

A trip to The Netherlands is never complete unless you see a windmill up close and personal. For this reason we went to Zaanse Schans, an ADORABLE small village on the banks of the Zaan River- about 20 miles outside of Amsterdam. This town has re-created some of the cutest 17th century homes ever.

I love how quaint this little area is; neighborhoods with such beautiful gardens. I want to live here!

We walked along the waters edge, it was so nice and crisp outside!

I wouldn't mind owning one of these waterfront homes, just sayin'...

In the 17th century a wide range of industrial activities sprung up in Zaanse Schans. In its heyday around 600 windmills, driven by wind power, helped make this area prosperous. Windmills were used for many different purposes: grinding oil, sawing wood, making spices, and grinding pigments for paint. Today there are about 10 well preserved windmills that you can visit.

I loved walking and looking at the windmills on our stroll

We peeked into one of the Windmills called De Zoeker, which was originally an oil mill in 1676. The mill produced linseed oil and canola oil. The process started under a big stone where the seeds were flattened and broken; then the "flour" was heated over a dire to stimulate the separation of the oil.

There was some pretty intense rotary action going on, it's amazing how much power the wind can make! The inter-workings were very similar to a clock mechanism: one part of it pushes the next, so on, and so on.

We climbed onto the deck to admire the beautiful views, but first a look down into the factory:

Ahhh fresh air!

We checked out just how big a windmill actually is...and they are pretty HUGE!

The town has some really cute shops to parooze through. First stop, the chocolate shop...yummmay!

Sign me up for the chocolate making workshop please

I love all the different design molds you can choose for your chocolate

Their handmade chocolates were so beautiful and delicate looking, almost too pretty to eat.

They let us taste test lots of different chocolates so we were super happy. The lady that was helping us took a sample too every time she would give us one, and then asked us our opinions. It was funny to watch her nod her head in agreement with our taste preferences since she was eating so much chocolate. She must eat lots of chocolate throughout the day.

Imagine, you get to try all of these:

The winner for us was Tony's Chocolonely, which helps support 100% slave free chocolate. We loved the sea salt caramel crunch bar, and had to buy a few.

Next stop, the cheese house!

Welcome to a cheesemongers dream, the replica of an authentic Oostzaan farm, fully equipped for making cheese. Here they do demonstrations in their cheese kitchen on the different stages of cheese making.

We got to taste test here too, a variety of Gouda, Goat's Cheeses and Herbed Cheeses... Our favorite was the Goats Herbs and Garlic.

...and don't worry you can take some home, it's all for sale!

And a trip to The Netherlands isn't complete without some good old fashion clogs. We found a few pairs right here in Zaanse Schans at the clog factory. We learned about the history of the clog, dating back to a millennium. An abundance of wood meant that everybody used to wear these inexpensive yet sturdy wooden shoes-there was a variety, from church clogs to rollerskating clogs.

This one is my favorite-the diamond clog!

We got to see a live demonstration of the craftsmanship that goes into making a pair. From the machine tracing the shape of the model clog (looks like how you make a spare key), to blowing out the 60% water that the wood holds.