Windmills, Burgers and Beer

So here I am again, David made me write another post. Sorry it may be unedited as David is asleep.

Today, we caught the train to Zaanse Schans, a 17th-century town located 20 minutes by train from Amsterdam on the River Zaan.  It was a great day trip out of Amsterdam, yes it is touristic, but the windmills are in working order and are quite interesting.

As we crossed the drawbridge? to Zaanse Schans the bridge began to open up - both sides (i'm not sure what these type of bridges are called, Dad. some help please?) it was pretty awesome. 

The windmills are all working mills, and they perform various functions, including a saw mill, a paint mill (grinding pigments), and oil mill (grinding linseed or peanuts to draw off the oil).

The houses to the right of the river are so old and quaint they are the perfect compliment to the windmills on the other side.  The whole sight is just what you would expect to find in The Netherlands.  Walking in through the main street, the houses, mostly green, each have there own unique design elements.  As a great representation of a Dutch village, there is a canal across from them and the most beautiful little houses with lush foliage.  Little bridges cross the canal to reach the houses.  The weeping willows are especially nice, here.

On our way back over the bridge we stopped and admired the view of the windmills from the beer garden of a local hotel. We also enjoyed soaking up our first sun-rays in Europe since we've been here.  From here we could see the bridge go up and down a few more times for the large sailing boats that had to pass through to the other side.

We then returned to have dinner at our favourite restaurant in Amsterdam Burger Bar we are burger connoisseurs after all?, and the fries are made with love. (we should start receiving advertising fees surely?)

We followed this up by drinking our last beers (La Chouffe, which is a Belgium spiced ale (8%)) in Amsterdam - at Cafe Belgique.  An extremely small, old style Dutch bar serving a selection of Belgian and Dutch beers, some of which are not for the faint-hearted - some very angry beers at 10-11%.  The weak beers start at around 4%.

We had a top day.  Tomorrow, we head to Belgium.