Holland, or the Netherlands is little country on the North Sea, which is gaining more and more land as dikes are built into the sea and then closed. After the water is pumped out fertile land is left behind which is soon cultivated.
To all the Dutch who lived and / or were born in Indonesia, Holland will always be "home". And so it was to me. Leaving for Holland filled me with anticipation but, on the other hand I had to leave all my friends and my nanny, whom I loved dearly. The weather in Holland gave me some problems too. I was used to monsoons and the Dutch weather was unpredictable with a lot of rain. But when the weather was good, it's beautiful.
It is a beautiful country. The beaches are great with white sand. There are lakes and canals for watersports. Even so it is thickly populated there are still plenty of places left for hiking and bicycling.
I guess Holland is best known for two things ,wooden shoes and it's flowers. Dutch bulbs are shipped all over the world.
Holland is the size of the Texas Panhandle down to about Childress and it's population is about 14 million which makes it one of the most densely populated countries in Europe.
It is a socialistic country with a constitutial monarch. The House of Orange has been the ruling monarchy since the defeat of Napoleon and even before that, during the 80 year war with Spain the Princes of Orange shaped Dutch history.
It's history is rich. The Dutch were always seafarers and did their share of exploring.
It had it's famous painters, Rembrandt, Vermeer, van Gogh just to name a few.
Holland is the only country whose warships managed to sail up the Thames to London in one of it's wars with Great Brittain. It was also the first to recognize the United States as an independant country after the Revolutionary War.
Hollands educational system is excellent. Medical care is on a par with that in the US, but is suffering the same problems of ever rising costs.
Due to overpopulation and high cost of living a lot of Dutchmen are emigrating to the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Camping
May 10th 1940
One bridge too far
Liberation
Astrid
