On Day 5, Thurs., we met Joop again, this time at the train station in Amsterdam, and hopped back on board to visit his friend, Martha, at her home near Zaandam. Martha is a museum volunteer and history buff so we felt fortunate to have her as our own professional tour guide. Martha then drove us about 15 minutes to Zaanse Schans, a 'park' of old windmills still in use for everything from grinding grain and stone for paint pigments to cutting wood. After 3 trips to Holland, I finally saw windmills! We especially enjoyed the Windmill de Kat (The Cat) that was built in 1782 and is believed to be the last surviving (of 55) dye mills in the world that process minerals for paint. We then went on to see a preserved house where Peter the Great stayed for some time. The house is one of the few surviving wooden structures from the 17th century and has been preserved by building a house over the original structure. For Joop's pictures of this trip, see-- https://pbase.com/joopschilp/nancy_and_john_at_zaanse_schans -- https://pbase.com/joopschilp/my_friends_from_virginia_at_marthas_place/ -- https://pbase.com/joopschilp/with_john_and_nancy_to_czar_peter_house/ -- https://pbase.com/joopschilp/zaandam_with_nancy_and_john/