Earlier this year, Cole attended a birthday party that was held at a cute little farm just outside of Amsterdam. On this farm, in addition to holding birthday parties, they make really great cheese and also crank out hundreds (thousands?) of pairs of traditional wooden shoes ("klompen") every year.For whatever reason, I'm a bit fascinated with klompen--perhaps it's my general fascination with unique cultural icons. Whatever the source, I knew that it was only a matter of time before I bought myself a pair.
During my mom's visit, we returned to the farm and watched a pair of wooden shoes being turned out on some ancient machinery.
In this first movie, the shoes are taking their shape:
In this next movie, you can see how the inner parts of the shoe are carved out:
And here is the (partially) finished product.
Mine are customized with the three Amsterdam X's (found in the ubiquitous city crest), with my name etched into the side of one shoe.
