Zaanse Schans

Yesterday, Chad, Maria, Linley, Kara and I (all wheaties) decided to take a trip out to Zaanse Schans, a kind of touristy town where the citizens have preserved the stereotypical old Dutch windmills and wooden shoe factories. The town is much closer to the coast and in case you didn't know, much of the Netherlands is technically below sea-level. These windmills have been used to pump water out of the marshes so the land can be used for farming. Zaanse Schans is full of these marshes and old mills.

To get from Amsterdam to Zaanse Schans, we took a train from Amsterdam to another city, Zaandam, on an express intercity train. From there we were to take a more local train to Koog-Zaandijk. The five of us happily boarded the train to Zaandam at Amsterdam Centraal train station. Turns out, we had boarded the front car of the train. When we were getting off at Zaandam, Linley, Kara and I got off from the same door we boarded. Chad and Maria thought they'd walk through the car we had sat in to the door on the other side.

Then we found out that doors at the front of the train don't open.

Linley, Kara and I saw Chad and Maria realize this and hurry back toward the functioning door--- after it had closed. Linley, Kara and I couldn't help but explode in laughter as we watched an absolutely terrified Chad and Maria head off on an express train to Alkmaar (the cheese city!). Their faces were priceless as the train started pulling out from Zaandam.

Wheaton College policy says that if a group gets separated, that everyone should meet back up at the place where thye were last all together. Of course, this policy is put in place for the traveling teams that are almost always at risk of getting lost and separated in unfamiliar cities. This shouldn't be an issue at all for the stationary Amsterdam teams who are nice, safe and secure in the Netherlands.

hehehehe

So Linley, Kara and I sat patiently at the Zaandam train station, waiting for our lost buddies.

Sure enough about 30 min later they came back from.... well.... wherever they went.

Maria has made a hilarious video mini-documentary about our day at Zaanse Schans. Chad is planning on posting it on the Shelter City team blog later on today. Look for the video here:
http://sheltercity2011.tumblr.com/

In the end, we did have a lovely day in Zaanse Schans! Lovely windmills, lovely wooden shoes.