The World Is Flat

Our direct, overnight flight to Amsterdam went according to plan, arriving safely at 7:30 am. We did encounter a minor disruption with a 24 hour rail workers strike going on, but an equally good bus system delivered us to Den Haag (The Hague) where we booked an Airbnb apartment for our first 5 nights to use as our base for multiple day trips. This country of canals, windmills, and bicycles must have been where the theories started about a flat world, as this "Low Country" sports it's highest waterfall at 15 metres, despite the abundance of water throughout the country. In fact, more than one third of the country is below sea level. However they have done an excellent job of building dikes to prevent against floods and our host told us about a new innovation to dump millions of cubic feet of sand into the ocean to help create a barrier to prevent rising sea levels from flooding the coastline, and it will eventually be pushed up onto the shore which will also have a positive effect. What they haven't done yet is establish speed limits for cyclists, who terrorize the tourists on the bicycle (psycho) paths, while we are carefully watching for vehicle traffic. No injuries so far but a few close calls.

Our apartment was in a very ethnic part of Den Haag which has been a blessing for restaurant choices. Beyond local cuisine we have enjoyed dishes from Afghanistan, Turkey, Spain and China. A trip to the Mauritshuis Museum to observe some fine art by European Masters (Rembrandt, Vermeer, Rubens) was a treat, as was the "Royal Walk" amongst the palaces and high-end historic hotels.

Day trips were made easy by a very efficient transportation system (train / bus / tram/ subway). Our first visit was to Delft, a charming city with a lot of medieval history and the home of Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer. William the Silent, known to us as William of Orange, led the rebellion against the Spanish, in the late 1600s, to eventually gain their independence and he is prominently featured in the Prinsenhof Museum. Oude Kerk and Nieuwe Kerk....Old (1246) and New (1496) Churches....had well adorned interiors, and Market Square was a perfect spot to people watch while sipping on adult beverages. Another trip was to Leiden, a university town, where we did a leisurely canal boat ride around the city, followed by a canal walk and lunch on top of a canal bridge. Rotterdam was our 3rd day trip, quite different than the others due to the city's buildings being destroyed during WWII. Beautiful architecture now adorns the city but we still got our history lesson by taking a water bus out to the countryside Kinderdyke windmills. Once there we learned how the Netherlands has managed to intelligently control water levels throughout their country, and the use of static windmill positions to spread the news about births, weddings and more.

Departing Den Hague we moved our base to historic Utrecht, where we took an underground tour to see remnants of Roman buildings. The current St. Martin's Cathedral now sits above several centuries of multiple iterations of religious structures. A day trip to Gouda ('how-da' vs. 'goo-da') was timed to visit their weekly Cheese Market, a spectacle in itself. Re-creating tradition, farmers negotiate the sale price with the store owners by slapping hands, and only shaking when a final deal is reached. We also experienced the entire cheese making process while there.

We are now in Almere, just east of Amsterdam and built entirely on reclaimed land, for our final stop before boarding our river cruise ship in Amsterdam. We spent today at the Floriade Festival, which occurs every 10 years at a different place in the Netherlands. While it is primarily a flower festival, this year's theme was 'Growing Green Cities'. Beyond the beautiful flowers and plants spread all over the 60 hectare site, there were almost 100 exhibits displaying creative ways forward for sustainable living.

The Den Hague HS train station, close to our rental unit. It became our go-to spot almost every day as we took 15-30 minute train rides to surrounding cities.

While in Delft, we visited the Prinsenhof Museum where William of Orange was assassinated, and the bullet holes still exist in the wall. This was a display of some centuries old Delft pottery, now world famous for its' blue and white creations.

Delft's Town Hall, with it's medieval architecture.

Den Haag's Mauritshuis Museum. World famous art from European Masters was displayed throughout the many rooms in the former 17th century private house of Count Johan Maurits.

While small boat cruising along some of the many canals in Leiden, we came across some old sailboats that are parked and used as houseboats.

Further along the canal we found some more recently built houseboats. They are permanently docked

 so most of the owners used their own boats to get around the city.

No better place in Leiden to stop for lunch than beside one of the canals, or even on top of one.

I took this picture outside of Markthal in Rotterdam. While you can see right through to the other side where another building exists, you can also see the reflection of the sky from the glass front of the Markthal building. There were shops on the ground and basement floors, with the rest of the arched building comprised of apartment suites.

The Witte Huis (White House) in Rotterdam. It was the only large building in the city to escape bomb damage during WWII, a miracle in itself.

The Kinderdijk Windmills 20 km east of Rotterdam. We took a water bus out and back to learn more about how the windmills were used to manage water levels. The living quarters inside were tiny but it was an important job ensuring there was ample, and not too much, water for the surrounding farming communities.

Our timing was perfect to see the final weekly Cheese Market of the year in Gouda. The old time bartering for the round blocks of cheese on the pallets was fascinating to watch. Both sides bartered while the hand slapping was on, and then stopped several times when one of them didn't like the 'final offer', but then it was adjusted and the hand slapping continued until a final handshake occurred, once a price was agreed upon. I took a video also to remember the whole song and dance.

One of the exhibits at the Floriade Festival in Almere displayed a building that was made with recycled products. There were many different types of components, some for warm weather and others for cold climates. We previously stayed overnight in an 'earthship' in Argentina, made with some of the same materials and we had a comfortable stay.