Rajinder's Rejoinders To Life: COUNTRY SIDE OF NETHERLAND

In Amsterdam my daughter handed me a booklet of Tickets and Tours a travel agency which organizes conducted tours in and around Amsterdam. I choose the countryside and Windmills tour which cost 36 Euro and the five hour tour takes your first to Volendam, then in a boat to Marken Island and finally by bus to Zaanse Schans the windmill village.

At 12.30 pm on Saturday the 5 th May, left in a Red double decker bus for the tour .Was provided head phones and had a choice of language. I sat on the front seat on the upper deck for the best view. Within few minutes of travelling we were out of Amsterdam and into the Country side,lush green farms ,canals and beautiful houses was the landscape which gave us company through out the trip the recorded commentary in English gave us useful information about the place and the nation. Our first halt was Volendam where we were asked to carry all our belongings including the hand set as the next part of our Journey would be by a boat and would not return to this bus. On getting down from the bus were briefed about the place and how to go about by Daina our tour guide who was not only good looking but also had good knowledge about the place and a good command on English language , she handed over to us the tickets for the boat ride and led us through the lanes crossing bridges over canals to visit a factory where the wooden clogs, and cheese was made, saw a demonstration of both and people bought cheese at a competitive price. After the visit we walked again through the lanes to the lake where our boat was waiting for us to take us across to the island Marken. It was sunny but chilly still choose to sit on the open upper deck of the boat for a good view. The twenty minute boat ride was a lovely experience.

We got down from the boat at Marken and Diana gave us about an hour to go around the island and assemble at a point from where we would walk to a waiting bus to take us to the Windmills .On the island all you could see was restaurants and shops and lots of people .Went to the open air portion of a restaurant overlooking the lake had apple pie and coffee, The place, the coffee and the apple pie were refreshing.At appointed time all collected to be led by Diana through the lanes of the island a good 15 mins walk but the way houses were decorated on the way it was worth the walk. We got into the bus and headed for our next destination of the tour Zaanse Schans.

Zaanse Schans has been declared as a World heritage village and is the village in which you can see the Windmills. The beauty of the place is beyond words will try to do some justice with the pictures I am sharing.

After spending an hour at Zaanse Schans we got into our bus and headed for Amsterdam thus ended a memorable trip to the countryside.