Appooppanthaadi -17

The guide of the Bicycle tour after the lecture took us first to the bridge across the Amstel River. He showed us the houses on the banks and the style of construction of houses there. From there a long ride took us to a wind mill. By this time we have reached the country side.

Windmills were widely used in Holland once upon a time. These windmills were manly meant for irrigation purposes. Amsterdam is a place that lies below sea level. So, pumping water from one place to another was a necessity. This was the major reason for the large presence of windmills there.

Now in Holland there are a little above thousand windmills surviving and they are now functioning more like show pieces. These vintage mills are show cased at different parts of the country and are good tourist locations. Our guide explained us how these windmills were used during the world war as a means of communication. They used different colours of flags fluttering from the top of one of the fins of the mills to give different signals to neighbouring villages about the presence of enemy force. Enemies could never decode these signals.

From the windmill we went to a cheese manufacturing firm. There they milk the cattle and make cheese from the milk. The production manager there showed us how they make cheese. A young cheese is the one that is used just a few days after it has been manufactured. As they are ripened, the taste changes and we get different hardness too. This process many months to many years. Cheese is generally preserved with a cover of wax on it. They add different flavours and ingredients like pepper or cardamom during the manufacturing stage to get different types of cheese.

In the same premises, they make wooden shoes too. Shoes made of wood are traditional footwear in Holland. We were told that in villages, people still use wooden shoes , especially the farmers. We could see how a shoe is made from raw wood using special machines. These shoes are also made by hand. I tried on a pair of shoes. Felt good and comfortable. We have to use the size that is one numeral above our normal shoe size.

In every shop in Amsterdam, these shoes are predominantly displayed. I could not see anyone walking on the street wearing these wooden shoes. A Memento from Amsterdam is expected to be a pair of shoes or a model of windmill. I bought a pair of a small sized shoes from the manufacturing unit to keep in the. They wrote my date of visit on the shoes using a special type tool. This tool lightly burns and makes indelible mark on the shoes.

All through the ride, I could see a number of KLM airplanes making landings at the Amsterdam airport. As it was a windy day, these planes were making unusual noise that was disturbing the tranquility of the city as a whole.

By the time I was back to the hotel room, I could hardly walk. Mike's bike tour was an interesting experience though exhausting. Thanks to mike's enthusiasm, bicycle stole my heart yet again. Sooner or later, I shall buy a cycle, on which I would love to go to office every day no matter people say here goes a stingy eccentric idiot who does not want to spend on buying a car.

In the night, I had a vegetarian dinner at Shiva Restaurant. Then romanced with my friend Laptop for a long time in the night. My hotel was near the Dam Square. Amsterdam derived its name from the River Amstel and the dam across it. Dam Square is arguably the heart of the city. It is just ten minutes walking distance from the Centraal Railway Station.

All commercial establishments, many Hotels – cheap as well as costly ones , Madame Tussad, sex museum, Beer Museum and the famous red streets are all situated around Dam Square. It was mid night. I was just looking from the balcony of the room. Girls and boys, men and women on bicycles and on foot are still walking around. There is a potato fry shop down the roadside. The shop keeper who is of African origin prepares the finger chips there. So many people are still thronging in front of this shop. I too went down and took one packet. Tasty ones but the price was 2 euros. It seemed to be expensive.

natesan