Dutch DAY TRIPS - Amsterdam Bruges and Brussels - page 292

museum's explanations are scant (pick up the English descriptions
as you enter). If you're not a beer-lover or a backyard brewer, I'd
skip it (€3.50, Mon-Sat 13:00-16:00, Fri from 10:00 during cheese
market, closed Sun, across Waagplein from the Weigh House at
Houttil 1, tel. [phone], www.biermuseum.nl).
Grote Kerk —Alkmaar's “Great Church” is similar to others
in Holland (such as Haarlem's and Delft's). Visit if you want to
see a typically austere Dutch interior (€2.50, June-Aug Tue-Sun
10:00-17:00, closed Mon; Sept-May open only for cheese-market
Fridays, concerts, and special events). The church also hosts fre-
quent concerts (for schedules, call tel. [phone] or see www
.grotekerk-alkmaar.nl).
Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar —he Stedelijk, which also has a
big branch in Amsterdam, recently opened this facility in little
Alkmaar. The museum has two parts: a permanent collection about
the history of Alkmaar and a space for temporary exhibits. The
15-minute movie in the town history section is excellent, enlivened
by props and sound effects (ask to see it in English). But the rest
of the history exhibit—with stiff group portraits, other paintings,
and artifacts from the town's illustrious past—is only in Dutch and
difficult for non-locals to appreciate. Visit here only if the tempo-
rary exhibit intrigues you (€4.50, Tue-Fri 10:00-17:00, Sat-Sun
13:00-17:00, closed Mon, Canadaplein 1, tel. [phone], www
.stedelijkmuseumalkmaar.nl).
TraNSPOrTaTION CONNECTIONS
Alkmaar is connected by frequent fast trains to Amsterdam (4/
hr, 35-45 min). However, these trains do not stop at the Zaanse
Schans museum (see below). To visit the Zaanse Schans museum
on your way back to Amsterdam, take a train from Alkmaar to
Uitgeest, where you can transfer to a slower regional train (typi-
cally just across the platform) to Koog-Zaandijk (sometimes abbre-
viated as “Koog Z.”). On busy days, the info desk in the tunnel of
the Alkmaar train station hands out schedules for this connection.
Zaanse Schans
Open-Air Museum
This re-created 17th-century town puts Dutch culture—from
cheesemaking to wooden-shoe carving—on a lazy Susan. Located
on the Zaan River in the town of Zaandijk, the museum is devoted
to the traditional lifestyles along the Zaan—once lined with
hundreds of windmills, used for every imaginable purpose, and
today heavily industrialized (including a giant corporate chocolate