Holland

What comes to mind when you think of Holland? Tulips,clogs and cheese! We didn't see any tulips because they bloom in Spring and the only clogs we saw were Delft salt and pepper sets in curio shops; but we did see and sample a lot of cheese. We spent 4 days with Arjen, Christiana and the kids in Alkmaar; the cheese capital of Holland. It is a very pretty little city and we had a good day exploring it with Christiana and the children. We also spent a great day with them doing something else very Dutch - cycling! We cycled to Bergen and the dunes and the beach and visited the historic farmhouse they are busy renovating. Another thing the Dutch are famous for is their unique relationship with water and the sea. 53% of Holland is below sea level and everywhere you go you see levies, dykes and polders. In Zeeland we saw a huge Lock System, a feat of engineering to hold the sea back in times of flooding without interfering with the tidal ecosystem. The Unesco site, Kinderdijk has more than 20 18th century windmills, many now private homes and still operational. And then there are the canals of Amsterdam!
We also went sailing on the Isjelmeer; which used to be the Zuiderzee before they decided to close it off from the ocean, turn it into a freshwater lake and reclaim much of the surface area into a new province; a project that began in the 1920's!
We visited a naval museum with a replica of a 17th century ship and a history of the Dutch as sailors and explorers.
The sailing was wonderful. We sailed with Sabien on her dads' yacht. Every night we stayed in a different marina at an historic port town. We had great weather and good amounts of wind and sampled lots of good Dutch beer and specialities such as fish, pancakes and pea soup.