Cold and Rainy Day

It didn't matter much that it rained yesterday - the museums were dry. However, today we took a half day tour to Volendam, Marken and Zaanse Schans, and we wished for brighter weather.

Volendam is a touristy village on the shore of Lake IJsselmeer, which was created in 1932 with the closing of the Zuider Zee. The lake is now fresh water, and the towns along it are protected from floods.

Lining the dike on the walk into the village were pretty houses. To a Canadian, these looked like miniature houses.

But looks can be deceiving, as these houses extended far back, and had at least one floor below the main level. Note the pretty garden in this one in a very compact area.

Marken was altogether less touristy, with a distinctive house style. Canals ran through the village and once again there were compact gardens.

We ended our trip by visiting Zaanse Schans, an open air museum which showcased 14 windmills salvaged from the thousand or so that used to be operating in this area. The industrial area grew up to produce finished goods from raw materials being imported from around the world when Holland was such a urge trading power in the 17C.

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Naarden

Naarden is best known as a star-shaped fortress town. It's a very compact town of 17,000 inhabitants with the walls and moats very well preserved. We walked out through the town gate to admire the fortifications. We walked out through the town gate to see the walls and the moat: The town itself is very pretty and not surprisingly is considered one of the prettiest towns in Holland. We just loved the church. Those paintings on the ceiling are quite spectacular. We spent some time wandering, and having a very pleasant lunch. One thing that surprised me was the number of very nice clothing stores. It seems retail is alive and well in the small towns of Holland. This observation was underscored in other small towns we visited. Very nice clothes too!

Water, Water, Everywhere

Storm Surge Barrier at Maeslantkering near Rotterdam To tour the Netherlands is to marvel at Dutch ingenuity in water management. With one quarter of Holland below sea level and one half at one metre or less above sea level, the Dutch have lived with the threat of flooding for their entire history. The country boasts over 17,000 kilometres of dikes, along their rivers, intended to protect residents from flooding. But one night in 1953, the confluence of an especially high spring tide and a wind storm over the North Sea struck just after midnight and caused water levels to rise more than 5 meters above normal, breaching the protective dikes. Radio was off the air and government agencies were not staffed; there was no warning for the residents of low-lying land and islands. By 3 a.m., more than 1,800 people had lost their lives. The Netherlands decided to get serious about a new era of flood control water management. They wanted to have defences that would handle once-in-a-t...

Along the paths and canals of Amsterdam

The Begijnhof One of the conference sponsors hosted an interesting guided walking tour of Amsterdam for 8 of us from Canada, US, India, Taiwan, Ghana, Africa, Australia and the Caribbean. My favourite part of the tour was the Begijnhof, shown above. After its long history as a Catholic almost-convent (the women took vows but were free to leave to marry), this beautiful peaceful enclave has 105 residents, all widows. After the bustle of Amsterdam, your heart rate responds to the serenity of the quiet closed-off courtyard. Amsterdam's oldest house is also found here. The homes in Amsterdam are distinctive both for their gables and for how crooked they are. Sometimes this is because their pilings have deteriorated, but partly it's intended: the upper stories usually lean out to ensure the furniture which is to be brought up by that hoist on the gable won't hit the house, as dramatically shown down this little street. Of course we walked through part o...

Netherlands 2017

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