Did you know that the (probably) most famous Dutch souvenir: the wooden clogs (Klompen) have been officially "accredited as safety shoes and can withstand almost any penetration including sharp objects and/or concentrated acids". The all-wooden footwear is nowadays mostly used by Dutchmen for working in the garden or in farms.
The Kooijman in Zaanse Schans (north from Amsterdam) still shows the old-fashion way of making the clogs, with 2 machines for having the shoe cut out of one piece of wood! A small walk through the history of clogs welcomes the visitos there. During the week the Dutch were wearing the non-painted clogs, but on Sunday was time for the nice shoes: black clogs for the guys and vanished with flower motives for the women. Some special models like the "Klompenschaats" (the iceskate-clog) or inline-skates-clogs are on display too. Today the choice in the Dutch shops is enormous, the once with windmills are the touristic ones, the typical ones are the yellow-painted clogs.
The collection of creative clogs in Zaanse Schans Klompenmakerij is indeed impressive, here between a clog-boat and the typical wedding Klompen from Marken.
Some tests in Delft this weekend even confirmed that if the clog is big enough, one may enter up to 5 inside (as a proof check the last picture:-)
