Zaanse Schans and Edam - Our First Tours

We boarded the Scenic Ruby on Monday, September 9, at lunch time. They served us a light lunch and, shortly after, they announced our cabins were ready. They had already put our luggage in the room, so Dan and I emptied our suitcases and stowed our clothes in the wardrobe and drawers. The suitcases slide easily under the bed. It felt so good to get everything in its place so we didn't have to live out of a suitcase any longer.

That afternoon we began meeting and visiting with our fellow passengers. The Ruby can carry 169 passengers, and it was nearly full. Ninety-five or so of the passengers were from Australia; most of the others were Canadian; eight were from the U.S.; and there were a handful of people from other places, including one very nice couple from Guatemala. We especially enjoyed getting to know one couple from Australia named Lee and Joanne. 

The ship stayed in port at Amsterdam overnight, and in the morning we went on a tour to Zaanse Schans and Edam. Zaanse Schans is out in the Dutch countryside. It is a picturesque little residential village that is famous for its historic windmills, many of them still fully-operational. We were taken inside one of them to see the grinding stones. That particular one was used for grinding limestone (or "chalk" as it was called), which is used in making linoleum. Another windmill nearby grinds flax seeds to produce linseed oil, another ingredient in the linoleum-making process. 

Besides the windmills, Zaanse Schans is known for its wooden shoe workshop, where they demonstrate how the shoes are made. Part of the process uses hand tools, but the final shaping and the carving of the interior are done by two vintage mechanical machines.

Among the 18th and 19th century shops in Zaanse Schans is a bakery. Because of my childhood memories of growing up in one, I'm always on the look-out for bake shops as I travel. Sadly, we didn't have time for me to go inside to see (or taste) its baked goods.

After leaving Zaanse Schans we went to the village of Edam, known for the cheese of that same name. We didn't have much time in Edam, so just wandered the storybook streets and enjoyed the "lost in time" village.

After returning to the ship, our river cruise actually began. We said good-bye to Amsterdam and headed up the Rhine. Not far out of Amsterdam we went through the first of 68 locks that we would navigate before arriving in Budapest two weeks later. It was much more exciting going through this first one than, days later, going through the 68th!

Overnight we crossed into Germany and woke on Wednesday, September 11, in Cologne.

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