Holland 4/8 - 8/8

Holland (or the Nederland's) is a flat expanse of land that stretches for miles and miles.  Back in the 1600's it was at risk of being flooded so the Dutch (the name for the people that live in Holland) used windmills to pump the water in different directions to avoid their piece of land being flooded.  Holland have hundreds and hundreds of canals flowing through it, which are usually halve salt and halve fresh water.  A canal is a small river that is man made and is used to transport people and items of food, clothing and animals etc.  They are commonly found in Holland, Venice and Bangkok.  The canals play an important part in Holland since they stop the land from going under sea level causing it to become a swamp land.  These are just a few of the facts that I learnt in Holland.

The Day we Arrived in Holland

We flew from Heathrow airport to another airport in Schiphol, Holland, which I found out is actually 9 metres below sea level (I found that a bit scary)!  When we arrived we took the overground train to a small town called Delft, which was where we were going to meet my mum again.  We arrived and were taken to the house we were staying in, which was considered big in Holland.  The relative we were staying with was my 2nd cousin and we looked almost identical (but she was a woman) and we even had the same personalties!  I was invited to go and collect the chinese that we were having for dinner that night on her tandem so I said yes.  I found that as we were riding there were not many cars around the place.  That is because most people get around on bikes and most don't even own cars!  We collected the food and headed home, we all ate and talked about my mum's side of the family (my dad had his turn in England) and I found out that I was related to so many people and many of them were my 2nd or 3rd cousins that I didn't even know about!  Lucky for me most people in Holland speak English, in fact they now start to teach English to preschool kids so they now the full language by the time they finish high school (maybe we should learn Dutch).  We settled for the night after an extremely complicated family tree discussion and I knew that I would sleep well (that's before I knew that the sun rises at 3:00am in the morning!). 

The Market in Delft

The second day we were in Delft we visited the local market, which was located in the middle of town in the market square.  It is said that the market square is the oldest part of town since it is where everyone met, sold and traded goods.  At one end of the town was a huge tower that was actually on a lean (not as much as the Tower of Pisa though) and looked like it was on the verge of collapsing when I was told it was completely safe!  Since it was a Sunday the market wan't busy at all and there weren't many stalls and shops open, the main day to come is on a Thursday since that is the main trading day.  We did manage to go into some stores to take a look (maybe we bought a few things) but we mostly just looked at the surrounding houses and structures.  The pavements of Delft is made of cobblestones and are sometimes quite uneven so when you took a step you had to look where you were going.  When we finished looking through the market we went over several bridges that went over some of the canals that made there way through the town.  Most of the bridges were exceptionally low to the water and were only about 1-2 metres above the water (how could you fit a boat through there?)!  I enjoyed myself touring the small town of Delft and finished it off with a lovely nights sleep (in the daylight since the sun goes down at 10:00pm!).

A Tour through the Canals

The third day we were in Delft it was pouring with rain and it would not stop!  I was annoyingly woken up a 6:00am to close the windows since the rain was coming in.  We decided that day to take a canal tour through a town called Leiden, which was close to Delft.  Once arriving we got tickets and went in a boat, which was very unique and designed for going under the bridges and going through the canals.  The boat was above the water by about 1 and a half metres and was submerged below the water by about 2 metres and there were seats in it.  It had a roof made of glass (which was very dirty) and had the style of a venetian canal boat (you might have to search it on Google) and was very comfortable to sit in.  Other than the fact it was pouring with rain we had a smile on our face since the glass roof was stopping us from getting saturated!  The views that you could get from outside the window were great and we learnt about the history of some of the bridges using the talking guide that you could listen to using headphones (mine didn't work so I didn't hear very much!).  Some of the bridges date back to the 1600's and most of them are still in the same condition that they are today (some had to be restored and rebuilt).  We made it through all of the bridges even though sometimes I thought that we would get stuck and made it back to the dock.  We then returned home, visited the market (the rain had sort of stopped by then) and spent the night chilling out (we couldn't watch TV since they didn't have one).

The Parade

The last day in Delft we spent the morning replying to emails (some from 8PG) going for a short walk into town and in the afternoon watching a water parade that took place going through the canals.  The parade was well set up and included some spectacular decorations and singing (some of which I couldn't understand since it was sung in Dutch) and I was really impressed.  The parade went on for about an hour and through that time I got to see different types of floats, some were Fruit and Vegetables, Fantasy, Extreme and many more!  I managed to get through my 5th book so far in this holiday and I'm hoping that I'll get through some more.  By the end of the parade I was really excited but also sad since we were leaving the next day to go to a party and stay the night at a hotel, no more chinese take-away :( .

The Party

The next morning we travelled to a relative of ours 70th birthday party where we would meet 100 adults all who I am related to and 1 another 20 kids again all of whom I am related to!  The party was at a train station and we were going to go around the place by steam train, which I thought was rather nice after a long days traveling (half an hour) to get there.  The train was a nice journey and went around the coast of Holland and I saw some of the spectacular levy's that stop the water from flooding the canals around Holland.  The train journey lasted a few hours and it turns out that I was actually a very good train conductor by the looks of it.  We finished the party at a lovely restaurant on the beach and the weather was shocking!  The wind was blowing, it was raining but luckily it was half indoors and the outside halve was covered in a tent.  The food we had that night was tasty and mostly made of chips (it wasn't as bad as it sounds) and everyone was having a good time.  In the middle of the party we found out that someone had brought there togs with them and had gone for a swim, they came back to the party a bit wet but still looking presentable.  After the emotional speeches we managed to make a move and get out of the restaurant and by that time it was 9:45pm and we were quite tired.  We went to the hotel we were staying at and spend the night sleeping in the comfiest bed so far in the trip (why did we have to stay there only one night?).

The following morning we drove for 2 and a half hours up to another of our relatives, which was on the border of Holland and Belgium, knowing that tomorrow we were going up on a bullet train to Berlin.   

A Low Bridge

Look how low we are to the water in our Canal Tour Boat!

The Canal Tour Boat

A Canal

The Leaning Tower (it is leaning it's just hard to get with a camera)

The Market Square (when it's not busy)

Me with my mum's glasses on having lunch

Me on the Train

Left:  My cousin.  Middle:  Me.  Right: Steven (Brother).

A Float in the Parade

A Float in the Parade

A Float in the Parade

A Float in the Parade

A Float in the Parade

The Train we went on at the Party

An Olden Day Windmill