Edam 2

Much of what was going on in Edam on Thursday afternoon;
yes, we did buy a round of edam

Centrum

Very old building, now the museum

Boy holds boat down while

Friends get ice cream

Another canal scene

And another

Here you can see how disturbingly the old museum leans

Really nice Dutch oven in a really nice cooking store

The old carillon tower also leans disturbingly

But is beautiful to look at

Today's movie shoot

Edam 1

From Marken we drove on to Edam, back on the mainland, so to speak. It is another pretty little Dutch town that will require more than one post. And here began our education in Cheese 101.

En route to Edam

Cheese on the hoof; the reason Nederland produces so much
cheese is that the (un-reclaimed) peaty soils will grow nothing
much but grass; the reclaimed sandy soil, suitably enriched,
grows crops; so we were told

Nave view of Edam's Grote Kerk, 16th century, renovated by
Protestants

Demographers say that religion will be extinct in northern
Europe in another generation, and here you can see that
prediction in action...fully 1/4 of the church is charity-shop
bookstores and clothing; the entire choir and chancel is an
art gallery; it was unclear to me whether services occur here
at all...

Crossing ceiling, apparently original,, including cat-walks

Nice windows, early 1600s, mostly historical
images, since (these) Protestants didn't like
religious images and icons

Thus

And thus

Beautiful organ, usual for these parts

Canal scene, a few blocks from the centrum

Bronze cheese carriers...the next day, in Alkmaar, this image
will be burned indelibly onto our retinas...in living color, too;
and in English...

A theme slowly emerges

Cheesy canal scene with carillon in background

Deze klompen zijn gemaakt om te wandelen...and that's just what they'll do...

So on the way out of town we had to visit the clog museum in the clog factory...

Clog factory/museum/sales

Sunday clogs

Leather uppers

Ice racing

Ice golfing?

Skating

Found in an 18th century shipwreck

The factory

Marken, Waterland, The Netherlands

For centuries an isolated and impoverished fishing village on an island in the Zuider Zee, Marken--a town of perhaps a few hundred--has made the transition from bare subsistence to tour busses and water busses as well. Marken has preserved and now presented itself well.

Like any other place in Netherlands, even tiny
Marken is cross-crossed by tiny canals, thus
necessitating tiny bridges, all of whom are named
for royalty; Vicki persuaded me not to do a post
on the Bridges of Marken, Waterland

Street scene

Up closer

In the beautiful little church

Ditto; beautiful ship models hanging all around
with a two-panel list of all the pastors since the 
16th century

More street scene

Marken's excellent little museum

Fancy clogs...and not the last you'll see in these posts

Mannequins displaying traditional (16th century-style) dress;
note china

Lots of mannequins...but interesting stuff

For example, this 1660 painted chest 

And very fine wood carving; wood is good: it floats

Another bridge and the church steeple 

And drinks and lunch on the marina: the local beer, Marken, is
a high alcohol blonde, a bit sweet, a bit like Duvel, without the
hops; nice finish to our visit to Marken

Walking A Dike

Thursday we broke camp at Gaspaarplas and headed north, stopping first at Marken--a former island in the former Zuider Zee--and then beautiful Edam. But first, rather than drive straight-away into Marken, now connected to the mainland--we decided we'd walk a few miles of the old dike.

So this what Marken would have looked like a century ago

Closer up, now joined by a causeway, right

Anyhow, driving up the causeway, we stopped to take the dike
footpath toward Marken

Marken from the footpath

Looking the other way, the vast inland lake that used to be
the Zuider Zee

Approaching a small hamlet...note the things to the right, in
the water

They are ice breaks--although the sea has been tamed,
monumental ice is still a problem, occasionally carrying away
whole houses

On up the island, the old lighthouse

Synchronized windmills...momentarily

One of scores of sailing vessels on the Ijs

Looking back toward our rig...the windmills were more than a
mile beyond it