And a kak load of that I got with the Christmas visit to Amsterdam and the surrounds recently. Such much of cheese. And canals. And bicycles. Every. Where. You. Look. My lovely friend Little Miss Gerbil was sweet enough to loan out her flat in the lovely Spaarndammer area of the dam, with yummy Moroccan bakeries and veggie/vegan restaurants in the area (one being
Zaal 100). She left us 2 trusty bicycles to explore with (this is usual apparently for Hollanders to have more than one bike..!), and off we went. The dam pretty much looks as it was since my last visit many moons ago, with streetart, millions of bicycles,
Rembrandt masterpieces still as breathtaking as ever, with a few new additions of romantic couples dancing to street buskers, pesto cheese, even more design studios, and a lovely light show across the city added to it over Christmas.
Cycling away from the city is super easy (once you manage to find your way out of Amsterdam that is). The Dutch are amazing that way, they have clearly marked out cycle routes linking their cities together, so really, you could explore the whole country on a bicycle. So off we went towards Marken, a little island to the north east of Amsterdam, as well as Monnickendam,Volendam and Edam (because I have an obsession with cheese and it felt fitting to go there). Like so many of Holland's lovely towns, Edam has authentic 17th century architecture, gables, squares, bridges and monuments, old streets and quiet canals, one can easily imagine what it was like centuries ago. Big on shipbuilding there too. I'd recommend stopping off at the local pubs and having a chat with locals. Dutch people are nice that way.We met a man warming up on gluwein, who just caught a fish for his supper.
A 15 minute train ride to the left of Amsterdam is Haarlem, tulip bulb-growing district for centuries bearing the nickname
Bloemenstad (flower city) and owner of
De Adriaan, one of the many windmills we were to see! Yes we even went to Zaanse Schans, the somewhat Disneyland of windmills. Some of them are still in working order too, the ultimate environmentally-friendly factory, some still saw wood and press oil. We met one of the workers of the mill at a little granny's place along the windmill stretch, selling gluwein for €1, the best bargain we had found to date. He mentioned that the moment the mills 'retire' they rot, so it's best to keep them working.
And to top it all off, we were invited to a Christmas lunch by a pair of little Miss Gerbil's friends, where I met the prettiest snow leopard named Lux. Yes, total strangers invited us over for Christmas. That's how awesome Dutch people are.
