Zaanse Schans

July 15th--Today we all headed to the train station around 9:30. We got Shanda and the girls on a train to Brussels to visit some friends of theirs for the night. We then got on a short 15 minute train ride to then Koog-Zaandijk station. Upon arriving at the train station, we walked toward the ferry and took it over to the town of Zaandik, where the Zaanse Schans open-air museum is located. When we arrived here, it was lunch time so we ate a traditional Dutch pancake. We had combinations of cheese/bacon, salami/cheese, ham/cheese, and apples with cinnamon sugar. They were all very good. After our bellies were full, we went to the wooden shoe workshop. The kids tried on a lot of pairs of wooden shoes, but couldn't decide which pair they wanted. So, we told them we would come back. We walked around this cute, little Dutch town. We experienced a cheese farm where we got the opportunity to sample many different cheeses and even bought our favorite: pepper cheese. Then, we went inside a real working windmill where they were grinding dyes.. It was definitely a "climb at your own risk" tour because the stairs were really steep (like attic stairs), but we got to see all the parts of the windmill working. It was neat. We also toured a Dutch clock museum. This clocks were very unique, but unfortunately weren't for sale....we wanted to buy one. We made our way back to the wooden shoe museum and got there in time to see a demonstration. It is truly amazing how what starts off as a piece of wood ends up being a shoe. After the demonstration, Abby and Austin tried on more shoes and decided on the pair they wanted to buy. The cutest thing was Abby saying "Once I outgrow them, I'll put them up on my wall in my room." We thought that was the best idea. We headed back to Amsterdam about 4:30 and arrived at the train station about 5:00 where we went to the ticket counter to buy our tickets to Paris. We took a number in line and were number 934...they were only on 890 and there was only 2 desks open. I finally decided to head back to the apartment with the kids because it was going to be a long wait. The kids and I went by the grocery store before heading back to the apartment though. I fed them dinner and gave baths while we were waiting on Mike. He finally returned about 7:30...2 1/2 hours after we left him. He had a long wait, but it was a success because he got our tickets to Paris. We spent the rest of the night doing some things around the apartment getting ready for Lisa, Gabe and the boys to arrive tomorrow. They are going to spend a couple of nights with all of us in Amsterdam before traveling with us and the Jaye's to Paris.