Another spectacular day exploring the Dutch countryside, this time in the Zuiderzee area, north of Amsterdam.

We took the train to Hoorn where we had some breakfast and then wandered the town before heading back to the train station. There we hopped aboard a historic train like the ones that travelled through Holland in the late 1800s/early 1900s. As the train meandered through the countryside we watched the cows, horses, goats, ducks, bunnies and farmers going about their day. Oh, and windmills too! The train staff were in period costume and brought around costumes for all of the children.

After about an hour we arrived in Medemblik where we strolled the main street and bought stuff for our picnic lunch on the upcoming boat ride. Once on the boat, we escaped the screaming children and found a quiet spot on the deck to have our lunch and enjoy the view. The boat (also from the same time period) travels along the shore of the Zuiderzee, which was once part of the ocean until the Dutch dammed it to create a lake and reclaim some of the land for farming.

The boat took us to Enkhuizen, where there is an open-air museum showing life in the Zuiderzee area at the turn of the century. When the sea was turned into a lake, the fishing way if life changed drastically. In the 1950s the museum began collecting buildings and artifacts from around the area and moving them to Enkhuizen, as a way to preserve the history of the area. The result is a Barkerville or Fort Steele type of museum, Holland-style. It was extremely well done and we learned a lot. One of the best parts was that we about the only North American visitors there!

After spending several hours at the museum, our feet were killing us so we headed to the station to catch a train back to Amsterdam. Along the way, we came to the town centre along a beautiful harbour and had to stop for a cold drink and to soak up the ambience (and the sun) at an outdoor patio.

At the station, we discovered that there was no ticket seller and the machine only took coins which we did not have enough of! The nice lady working at the station spoke to the conductor who agreed to let us ride to Hoorn, where we could get off and buy a ticket to Amsterdam. Thank goodness for the kind Dutch people who take pity on stupid tourists!

We had planned to cook dinner but by the time we got back to our 'hood, the grocery store was closed so we got take-out from an Indonesian restaurant near our flat. It was only €13 and was soooo tasty. So was the baklava we picked up from the nearby Turkish bakery.

Time to pack...tomorrow we leave Amsterdam and head to Bruges.