Holland! (Part 1)

It has been a couple of weeks since we took our trip to Holland. I had so many pictures, thinking about blogging and sifting through them was slightly overwhelming. So, I've decided to break the trip up into two parts.
Matt & Christina, Lisa, and Jer & I all boarded the bus at 1:30am Saturday morning. These first 3 pictures are of us on the bus after "sleeping" for a few hours. Not the best of any of us, but we are real people and don't have a makeup and costume department. I personally love the pictures (even though I look like a corpse!).
It started out a very foggy morning but as the sun rose higher, the fog burned off.
Our first stop was to a hotel in Holland for breakfast. Upper class! I have blogged about food before, and I'm sure I will blog about it again. I don't believe anyone has experienced truly deliciously wonderful food until he has been to Europe. Wonderful all-you-can eat buffet. Yes, I did try the salmon and cheeses on a roll. Much better than I ever thought it could be--and even for breakfast! They also served a mean breakfast omelet! Christina and I were the only ones to try this out. They are made to order right in front of us. So delish!
After breakfast we boarded the bus again. I took a lot of random pictures from inside the bus while we were driving. The countryside is so interesting!
Next, we visited a cheese factory. We learned how cheese is made and aged. The lady was funny and had a quick wit. There is a picture of cheese taking a salt bath. Then the cheese sits on the shelves to age. They are moved up and down according to their age. We got to taste lots of different cheeses. I LOVE CHEESE!

We then went over to the wooden shoe factory. The guy giving the demonstration didn't have the same knack for holding my attention as the cheese lady. Maybe because his demonstration wasn't edible. But it was still interesting to see how the shoes were made. Wood chips were flying everywhere! There was a plexiglass window that separated most of the room. After the demonstration, we went into the shop. I tried on some wooden shoes in my size. I was surprised that they were more comfortable than I thought they would be! They even had arches!
The only thing negative I really have to say about them is that they squished my pinky toes a bit. I'm sure if I wore them for any considerable length of time my toes would hurt.

We had fun.
We all boarded the bus again, with our newly-bought treasures. We headed to a great photo-op spot. A windmill! I think no trip to Holland would be complete without seeing a windmill up close.
Next stop: Volendam, Holland.
This little town is charming, fun, and beautiful! I want to go back! We had free time to wander and explore. We first headed out to the water and the dike. It was quite windy and cold near the water.
We went in a lot of different shops. I love the delft!
It was soon time to meet back at the bus for the last part of our trip. It had already proven to be fun, but more was to come!