Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Phase 0: Leadup (or, the greatest trip ever?)

Heyo.  After a bit of a delay, it's my Netherlands blog.  Yeah, the headcold I picked up on Sunday has had its effect, but here we go.

So, Mitch....seriously...what is this?  The Netherlands?  Lemme 'splain....

This trip has kinda come out of nowhere, but also not really.  I'm 4th generation Dutch.  Growing up in a place called Holland, Michigan, some part of me thought I knew the Netherlands (ja, ja, windmills:  check.  Tulips:  check.  Wooden shoes:  check).  And I spent 3 days there while studying abroad.  In December.  Funny, everything was either brick colored or grey...

Something changed this summer, listening to an interview with a Dutch flood engineer.  Totally matter-of-fact dude, very practical and quite reasonable.  And the engineering he was describing were astounding things:  big flood gates, but also lowlands and valleys being reclaimed as the natural flood storage that they are.

It got me thinking about how I hadn't gone back since college, which is actually extra-weird because I was so curious about, you know, the medieval wool trade and how it helped create the first real towns in Europe, right here in the Lowlands (meaning Belgium and the Netherlands, which were co-owned by a variety of monarchs for a while).  And then modern banking spins off, international trade, etc.  I mean, what's not to love about this stuff, right?

And right now you're thinking:  the weird part was...which...exactly?

Anyway.  I was riding my bike to work just after that interview, in the usual "joust and jockey" style now seemingly necessary in Portland commuting, and I thought to myself:  'Self, wouldn't it be great if there were a place where everyone biked and driving cars was sort of a secondary....wait a second.'

And besides that, it occurred to me that Western Michigan (where I grew up) is pretty flat, agriculturally-based country, with sand dunes running along a big lake.  If I were to visit the Dutch province of Zeeland, wouldn't I find pretty flat, agriculturally-based country, with sand dunes running along a big lake?  Hmm.

We're not even talking (yet) about cheese.  And beer.  And red cabbage.  And little pastries filled with almond or whatever.  Or panenkoeken, the gigantic uber-crepes that the Dutch call 'pancakes.'

We're also not talking about the astounding art or the canals.  Seriously, I could even get excited about windmills and tulips.....I probably draw the line at the shoes, though....

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