I have enjoyed my final days in Friesland(found out the spelling difference- Friesland is Dutch, Fryslan is Frisian). Tuesday we headed to a major tourist spot in Noord Holland called the Keukenhof(It is really close to the airport in Amsterdam, so probably about an hour and a half from here, maybe a little longer). It is a few acres of Gardens open from Mid March-Late May. You walk around and check out the flowers, they have a miniature windmill you can go in, lotso f touristy souvenirs(at ridiculous prices!), and more flowers. It was pretty neat to see. People from all over and so many gardens. Piety had me pose with some flowers.
After the Keukenhof, we went to Zaans Schaans, only to find out the shops had closed but we could still walk around. What is that you say? It's a lowland that has like 10 windmills in sight, up to 5 close enough together to get in one picture. It was neat. THey were industrial mills used to cut lumber, get the oil out fo peanuts, make colored dyes, and I don't remember the others. It was cool to see so many all at once. Kind like what you stereotypically think of when you imagine Holland.
After the Keukenhof, we went to Zaans Schaans, only to find out the shops had closed but we could still walk around. What is that you say? It's a lowland that has like 10 windmills in sight, up to 5 close enough together to get in one picture. It was neat. THey were industrial mills used to cut lumber, get the oil out fo peanuts, make colored dyes, and I don't remember the others. It was cool to see so many all at once. Kind like what you stereotypically think of when you imagine Holland.
On Wednesday, Piety was off to work so Jan and I went for a drive after lunch. First we visited his Stallion at another farm, then checked out a couple windmills in Dokkum(one of which runs a pet store out of the main floor). Next it was off to Anjum, the town near where my grandpa grew up. We went to the mill, to take a picture, and there was a little store in the bottom. So we go inside and find out that it is a museum now, and you can actually climb up the mill, all the way to the top floor! Naturally we did it, and it was pretty neat to be climbing a mill in the village near where my grandpa grew up. The red and green on the top left of the photo is where the arms of the mill are attatched to. Yep. Right to the very top!
Just outside of town is a dijk, it seems Grandpa grew up near a hole in the dijk(yep there are holes in the dijk), so we tried to find where his house used to stand- it has since been demolished. After looking at 3 holes and talking to a few people, we think we found the right property. It was pretty neat. This isn't the one(I don't think) but it shows the hole in the dijk the best. It seems that on the other side of the dijk it was very shallow, so when the waters were low, the farmers would put their livestock to pasture over there. When the waters were high or there was a storm, they would put some big, fitted pieces of wood in the hole to close it up.
Yesterday, Piety had to work just in the morning, so after a calm morning where I slept late, applied to College, and discovered my old job still owes me money and I might have to look into further action to get it, and took the dog for a walk, we went shopping. Didn't buy much, but it was awesome to be shopping on a street in Holland, crossing the canal to get to different stores. Yep. I love it.
So I have truly enjoyed my time here. Jan and Piety were awesome and I am so glad that I got in touch with them. I don't think that my first 10 days could have gone much better.
1 comment:
glad to hear your having fun laura! keep updating!
Post a Comment