Waterworld

When you come to the Netherlands you must venture out of Amsterdam. True, accommodation is expensive here. But….if you allow for more than a couple of days, out of the city (which is amazing anyway) is a world of waterways, and beautiful places, and you will truly appreciate the genius that is the Dutch system of dikes, canals, irrigation, and the fact they haven’t had a flood since the 1950’s despite being largely below sea-level; and you will see bucket list things. I have vivid memories of Huckle the cat from Richard Scarry books with his finger in the dike (or maybe it was the pig??), and of the book about Hendrika the cow who fell in the canal because of her acute wanderlust for seeing what was beyond the farm (kind of like me 🙂 ), and it is so cool to see that landscape in person. And windmills; which are used for moving water, grinding things, producing paint, sawing wood….and anything else that electricity can now do. You won’t find any of this in Amsterdam, but if you hire a car, jump on a bus, or (as I did) book a tour to take you there, you will see it all. The tour I chose included cheese tasting in Edam (so good), a demonstration of clog making (a lot of people do wear them!!), a visit to the fishing villages Volendam and Marken, a drive through Monnickendam which is famous for smoked fish and eel; and a stop in Broek in Waterland, which is the prettiest village.

Soundtrack for today is David Bowie’s Let’s Dance 🙂