A day in Amsterdam

Booked with Viator for the Zaanse Schans, Marken & Volendam day tour!

Zaanse Schans is a cluster of windmills now preserved as a tourist attraction, while Marken & Volendam are coastal cities famous for clogs & cheese respectively!

There are a few shops among the windmills, which sell a range of products going from souvenirs (naturally) to soft serve ice-cream & chocolate!

The whole place is pretty touristy & there's quite a continuous flow of people, but thankfully it's not YET crowded-crowded the way some other famous places are. And it was a great summer day!

The entire vibe at Zaanse Schans is really nice actually, very laid-back & relaxed.

All you really do is just stroll among the windmills (frankly one looks pretty much like another) but it was pretty nice. Just to note that actually entering & going up the windmills is chargeable.

If I remember correctly I think it was 4 Euros per person? Or 6?

I feel like I really need to come up with my own "trademark" pose to replicate all over the world.

If you didn't know, this... pose, where the girl "leads" her partner to various scenic locations worldwide, is called the Follow Me To photo series & it went viral. And since then couples everywhere have been doing it haha. So I'm being totally unoriginal.

However we've already taken quite a few of these & I have no other ideas so... #unoriginal

Saw a little family of ducks! 

Baby ducks are so cute & fuzzy when they don't have proper feathers.

Looks like fur!

All chilling in the shade.

Luckily I have me hat!

Next it was on to Marken & Volendam!

This scene of 2 BFFs (or I like to think so) spending their days sitting on a little makeshift pier looks like it could come right out of a movie, likely a period film that will star Keira Knightley (although I do dislike her) & go on to win Oscars. It's strange how different our lives can be.

Got to sample lots of yummy cheese!

The French blood coursing through my veins means that I do quite like cheese, but I knew my mom & I would never finish one this size within the expiration date. But not that that usually bothers us...

Wow fish sandwiches. Possibly one of my worst food nightmares.

I mean ok hand me a Filet-O-Fish anytime, but these weird half-cooked fish stuffed in hot dog buns...

I love, love this! How quaint is being able to moor a little rowboat at the end of your backyard & row over to a neighbour's place for barbecue?! Well at Sentosa Cove they DO drive little buggies to each others' multi-million dollar homes (as I was saying, oh how differently we all live...) but this is too cute.

I may have a mild obsession with photographing cats.

All these little bridges! And that cat relaxing in the grass! And the little duck!

And all the flowers! How are all the residents so good at maintaining flowers?!

Even my cacti die! I have no green thumb whatsoever wtf.

Chilling in your backyard on a sunny afternoon licking ice-cream & watching the spectacle of tourists trudging by stopping to take pictures of everything.

Case in point.

ActOne nature photographer.

I have to say... I don't quite see the appeal of clogs.

I don't even mean aesthetically, but rather functionally.

Many traditional items were pretty ingenious back in their day, but clogs...?

Aren't they ridiculously chunky & heavy? Do they protect you from the cold?

Is it so that fathers can be woken up when their daughters try to sneak out for a secret rendezvous?

Well I guess there's always dressing up cow figurines...

Didn't take any pictures in central Amsterdam which was quite a shame really!

While I was there I happened to see a gay parade & it was so awesome! Everyone (regardless of sexual orientation) was revelling & everything was so colourful & it was just a fantastic all-day party.

And it's always so fun to see people going past in their private boats on the canals right through the busy city; the dad smoking a joint at the wheel while the mom sips champagne & a little girl plays with her dolls at the bow. Just all-round a really laid-back city to visit.