I am staying with my (distant) cousin, Margriet here in Hallum, in the Netherlands. Hallum is a beautiful little town with manicured gardens and streets paved with bricks. Everyone trims their bushes to 90 degree angles and the streets are quiet and friendly. Everyone says "Hai" to each other as they pass. Today was a classic Dutch holiday. We rode our bikes along canals and past cow pastures under the big sky (since the land is so flat, you can see the sky arching from one side to the other), passing little towns and farmhouses. Our destination was Burdaard, where we toured a windmill. The feeling of being inside a windmill as the wind picks up speed and the sails start to spin faster was awe inspiring. I could see the sails wooshing past the little windows and hear the machine grinding grain into flour. This windmill was multi purpose - they could hook in the grinder or a saw mill to the same gears.
From Burdaard we biked down to another little town where we has a late lunch at a canal-side cafe. We had a sampler of appetizers (little fried things, cheese, sausage, and salmon on crackers) and "sorbet" -- which in Holland means a wonderful parfait of rich creamy ice cream and fresh fruit. We biked back home over a famous bridge in Bartleheim, where people come to watch the Elfstedentocht, the speed skating race that happens only once every 15 years or so. And now we're back at Margriet's house!
I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon for a VERY long period of traveling. I have to take a train from here down to Amsterdam, catch a flight from Amsterdam to Dublin, wait in Dublin all night for my flight to Newark, switch planes in Newark, then arrive in Raleigh at about 5:00 pm. I'm going to be exhausted.
I'll probably be home before I email you again. See you soon!
-Val
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