The Dutch Countryside

Cindy grew up in North Holland in the town of Hoorn. We were lucky enough to be able to have her as our tourguide in the beautiful Dutch Countryside. We popped in to see her dad, George who was a weath of knowledge on everything Dutch!


Dutch cakes

In Hoorn, the canals run right up to the backs of hte houses.


Cindy and I (Nat)


Pascal, Candice and I at George's


Tea at George's

Cindy took us to see some traditional Dutch windmills at Schermerhorn.


These windmills, first used in the 1600s harnessed wind power to reclaim land for living and agricultural purposes


Posing outside the windmills.


These days, the windmills are more of a tourist attraction than anything else - modern machines do all the work


Wearing clogs and carrying milk


Inside the windmill: the mechanics of it all


Most of North Holland is about 2 metres below sea-level. Without windmills, we would be underwater.


A beautiful little village we had lunch in (I forgot its name!)


Canals in the village

Cindy took us to a clog and cheese factory near Edam.


A clog-making demonstration


Today, clogs are made by machine but in the old days, they were all made by hand.

The Netherlands is famous for its cheese. A cheese and clog factory together? The woodchips from the clogs are used to smoke the cheese! Recycling!


Dutch cheese - Edam, Gouda and Smoked Gouda!

Our short time in the Netherlands was well worth it. We bid Cindy, Niels and her cats goodbye as we headed back to Sweden where Pascal stayed for a few days. Unfortunately the great weather stayed behind.


Macho, one of Cindy's cats

For more pictures of the Dutch countryside, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=54447&l=74138&id=681501850