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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

N is for (The) Netherlands

Photos by Richard Schear and Kay Davies
Here I am with my blogging friend, Wil, who rode her bicycle to Kinderdijk to visit with me while my husband walked around the famous Kinderdijk windmills with his camera. Best known to bloggers as "Reader Wil", she tells me she often rides to this little outdoor cafe to enjoy the weather, and she definitely makes a point of taking her visitors to see the windmills. Wil also chose Netherlands as one of her N words for this week's ABC Wednesday.
We had a wonderful visit with one another, and with other visitors sitting nearby. What a great way to spend a sunny day in The Netherlands! Thanks a lot, Wil.
(I also met another blogging friend in The Netherlands, but more about that in another post, even in a different meme, so keep watching my blog.)

Photos by Richard Schear and Kay Davies


Tulips are iconic symbols of The Netherlands. The wooden ones keep longer, but the real ones come in a wider range of colors.




Canals and live-aboard canal boats are also symbolic of this lovely little country, but I will never be able to think of The Netherlands again without thinking of bicycles.
Below, cyclists in Amsterdam park everywhere, even on bridges.



I fell in love with the wonderful little town of Hoorn, with its history and its waterborne beauty.
We had gone ashore to watch the chef from our canal and river cruise demonstrate herring-swallowing (with your head back, hold onto the herring's tail and drop it head-first down your throat).
After that bit of edification, we walked much longer and much farther than I expected, because every road and building was tempting!

Back onboard the Viking Pride, I fell in love again (it happens a lot in The Netherlands). This time I couldn't resist a nearby heron, completely unconcerned about his feathers being blown by the wind.


Posted for ABC Wednesday,
the alphabetic meme brought to us by Mrs. Nesbitt and her talented team.
To see how others illustrated the letter N, please click HERE!

39 comments:

Sylvia K said...

I love the Netherlands and so enjoyed the time I was able to spend there and particularly the Tulip Festival! How wonderful to have been able to meet Wil! She's definitely one of my favorite bloggers! Great post for the N Day and terrific photos! Enjoy your day!

Sylvia
ABC Team

Kay said...

Oh wow! I just love your photos! I took photos of Kinderdijk too, but yours is much much better! I love the windmills with the plants in the foreground.

Carver said...

What fun to be able to meet up with blogging friends while traveling. Wonderful shots from the Netherlands.

Roger Owen Green said...

It is so cool to have a blogging buddy you've actually spent time with!

Albany has a tulip festival every May.

ROG, ABC Wednesday team

EG CameraGirl said...

That's such a NEAT shot of you and Wil in the Netherlands, Kay! I bet you had a NICE time together.

Leslie: said...

What a fabulous post, Kay! Lucky you to have met Wil, one of my personal favourites to visit when blogging. I haven't been to the Netherlands - yet - but I'm sure you've discerned how much I love to travel, so it's definitely on my list. The country looks so beautiful and your photos are great!

Leslie
abcw team

Gigi Ann said...

Love that picture of the two of you. Now I can put a face with the names. Thanks for visiting my ABC Wednesday today.

jabblog said...

Absolutely wonderful! So glad to know you had a fabulous time - though never doubted you would! Australia next? Wil - and many others of your bloggees - have contacts there :-)

Jane and Chris said...

I have always wanted to visit.It is beautiful!
Jane x

Richard Lawry said...

I recently met for the first time a relative who spent a number of years working in the Netherlands. He loved it.

An Arkies Musings

Wanda said...

Absolutely beautiful. How I would love to visit, and a bike ride sounds delightful, and then a cup of tea.

Kay L. Davies said...

@ Jabblog -- I don't think it will be Australia next, Janice. I went when I was 30 years younger, and loved it, but even then the flight was too much for me, and the jet-lag was worse.
If I could find a ship to take me there, my husband could fly over and meet me, but cruises from Vancouver to Oz are very rare, and a freighter wouldn't have me because I'm too hobbly and wobbly.
-- K

VioletSky said...

Oh, you are making me homesick!

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Oh so beautiful! Maybe someday!.

That is so great that you are getting to meet blogging friends. And that does sound like a perfect way to spend an afternoon.

Francisca said...

You went to Hoorn! I have two brothers who spent quite some years there. It IS a lovely town. All four of my siblings are Dutch, while I, the eldest, took Canadian citizenship in 1980. I do like visiting and you've captured the essence of the little nation well. You and Wil look so happy together... how NICE!

Dianne said...

Hi Kay - This is my first visit to your lovely blog and I love how your blogging friend rode her bike to meet up for a coffee - sounds wonderful! I've been to the Netherlands twice but just on a tourist bus and my feet were itching to get out and explore the real country. I live in Australia and yes it's so far to travel - wish I could just press a button and I'd be in Europe.

Jama said...

Thanks for showing me the beautiful Netherlands, I wish I could visit it one day.

Leslie said...

I love Wil's cape, and oh those TULIPS!!!

Carola Bartz said...

The windmills are beautiful, and so are those incredible tulips. We used to go to Holland and just look at the immense fields of tulips (I grew up not too far away from the Dutch border). They still belong to my favorite spring flowers. How wonderful that you could meet one of your blogger buddies.

Rajesh said...

Fabulous shots. Nice to see two blogging friends together in one frame.

Chubskulit Rose said...

Very NICE N.

Please come and see what my N is at Nostalgic marveling, thanks!

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

You got to meet Reader Wil!!!!!! I wanna too. She is such a lovely lady and always encourages.

Did you bring over a bottle of Canadian Maple syrup to her?

Did you eat much edam cheese?

I want to post this comment on her site though I just commented on hers.

Tumblewords: said...

How wonderful - the photos are superb and it's incredibly fine to meet up with a blogging friend - I follow her as well!

Hildred said...

Great post, Kay, - you bring back many lovely memories of the Netherlands, and how wonderful for you to be able to visit with Reader Wil. Thanks for sharing.

Meryl said...

I love your photos. They're beautiful.

Reader Wil said...

Lovely Kay, to see the two of us in a photo. It was great that we could meet and amazing that I recognized you immediately because of the red T-shirt with Canada written on it. It was actually a "blind date", wasn't it?! The photos are great! Say hello to your husband from me please and have a great week!

Cezar and Léia said...

Dear Kay, these pictures are adorable, and I specially love the bridge shot!
** I was thinking of you as well these days, and some days ago, after my French class I was in the Centre Station waiting for my bus to go home, suddenly I saw a very nice couple of tourists they were studying a "map"and I thought "Hey, the lady looks like Kay!", so...I went to introduce myself and ask them if they were from Canada.They were very kind, but unfortunately they were not Canadian, but a couple from Sweden! ;)
I'm anxious to see more pictures from your trip!
hugs
Léia

Caroline said...

A lovely look at the Netherlands. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Isn't it lovely to meet blog friends when you travel? Give a yell if you're ever in Michigan.

Ebie said...

Isn't it a great feeling to meet our fellow bloggers? I have seen Reader Wil in other memes. Wow, what great scenery. Wish to visit there someday, and the Tulips season is what I would hope for.

Hmmm,no cruises for me...

Debbie Taillieu said...

Oh, oh, I wanna go see those windmills now!!! Plenty here in Belgium, in fact I see one from our bathroom when we are visiting Stijn's parents! But I haven't seen a group of them such as in this picture! Beautiful! So fun to meet fellow bloggers. I hope to see you again soon in the future, maybe I'll get to Canada!!
Have a wonderful Wednesday!
Hugs,
Debbie

Reader Wil said...

Hi Kay this is what I wrote on my blog:"
These past few weeks have been lovely sunny.On 22 March I cycled to the windmills, which took me only 15 minutes. I waited there outside the souvenir shop for Kay D., who is one of the Canadian bloggers.It was a kind of blind date, but she e-mailed me that she would be wearing a red T-shirt on which "Canada"was written. I recognized her immediately. It was nice to meet her and her husband. While he went to have a closer look at the mills, she and I were having coffee in front of the souvenir shop. We were chatting about bloggers we both know and how wonderful it is to meet so many different people and cultures.I had the feeling as if I had known Kay for a long time. The weather was nice and sunny and I am glad that my Canadian blogging friend saw my country in the best possible weather.If you want to visit her click on
Kay D..

I also used the photo of the two of us, I hope you don't mind! You are free to use mine of course

This is Belgium said...

mooi, water, windmolens,fietsen, ..het is er allemaal

Lynette Killam said...

Such fun to meet a blogging buddy overseas, Kay!The little cafes are just a perfect place to sit for a while and watch the world pass by, aren't they?

And these are super photos! I also enjoyed seeing the great stacks of bikes everywhere, even parking lots full of them. It is nice and flat there...even I might be able to get around by bike, at least a little...:)

Lynette
Imagination Lane

Martha said...

I like your choice for N. If I were to visit a far off country, I think I might choose the Netherlands. Now if only I could speak Dutch.

Martha Z said...

I think that is a trip we would enjoy, floating down the river on a barge.

Powell River Books said...

On Friday we are taking Mom to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. That is something she can enjoy from the car. We drove through last week and the blooms are quite colourful. On the way back we are going to stop at an old fashioned drive-in called Boomers. It still has car hops that serve you at your car window. That should be fun outing for her without having to transfer in and out of her chair. - Margy

Carola said...

Wonderful photos. I see you had a great time. Meeting other people on your travels is very special.

I have a second post about the Namib Desert.

Unknown said...

Beautiful Post and wonderful pictures as well. I didn't knew that these old time Windmills still were around...when I was a child my grandparents used to show me old photos of Dutch Windmills which looks much like these here.
This post has brought back fond memories of my grandmother even though I never been to Netherlands.

Hope you have a wonderful Easter Weekend!