Traditionally, Holland is the land of cheese, wooden shoes, potato eaters and bicycling.The Netherlands is often called Holland, because of the role of the North and South in its history.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands, consists of three parts: the Netherlands, Antilles and Aruba in the Caribbean. We would have never thought that 2 years after visiting Aruba, we would be seeing REAL windmills, not pink ones in the Caribbean!
Dutch is the national language of Holland. However, English is spoken by almost everyone.
Holland is quite small, the surface area is 16034 square miles. The greatest distance from north to south is 186 miles, and from west to east 124 miles. Its about the same size as Rhode Island and slighly smaller the WV!
The time difference is +6 hours to EST.
We've heard that Holland is beautiful throughout every season. The best time to visit is summer to sit by the canals or take a bike trip through the country. During Spring time, the many tulips are in full bloom. It rains evenly over the year. It gets cold enough during the winter for canals to freeze over so the Dutch enjoy skating over the waterways and flood plains. Brrrr - I'm cold already.
Their shopping consists of visiting the local markets daily, picking up veggies and meat that are colorful and flavorful. And people take baskets! (or you have to pay for your plastic/paper bags.) I guess I'll learn how to ride a bike while holding things in my hands OR balancing heavy basket on the front?!
I am sure we'll experience a bit of culture shock.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment