Spring (we think)

Hello, everybody,

It would seem that winter here truly is over: the country explodes with flowers, the hail has stopped, one doesn't need gloves much any more, the wind has died down and the grey sky is often blue. You notice that I sound hesitant, but Dutch weather is very changeable. I went last Sunday up to Lisse (about 20 minutes and in hindsight, could have biked it) to the Keukenhof ("Kitchen Court", a name that hasn't been explained yet), Holland's remarkable flower exposition, which starts in late March and goes through mid-May. Tourists come from the world over: it was thronged with oriental faces, and we heard lots of English (UK and US), Spanish, German, French and others. It's located in the midst of the bulb fields (which begin just north of Leiden and run north almost to Amsterdam, but west, nearer the coast; these flowers love sandy soil) and currently has millions of mainly hyacinths and tulips blooming. When I first saw it (in the mid-'70s), all I remember were endless tulips, in colors and styles I never knew existed. Now, it's enormously expanded (82 hectares, or about 202 acres). They've planted seven MILLION bulbs.

http://www.keukenhof.nl/nm/english.html

The tulips were lovely, but I was almost more impressed with the hyacinths, some colors of which I'd never seen: palest peach, very dark purple, and the scents were heavenly. The park is arranged in sections of various flowers, and also with special displays, such as a few this year for the Olympics in Beijing. There also were a few hothouses, with very beautiful lilacs, enormous tulips (at least three feet high!) and lots else. After an hour or so, we were sated and headed back to Leiden. I went with an office colleague who also lives in Leiden. She's encyclopaedic about flowers and even knows their Latin names! There were little kiosks from the growers, so one could buy bulbs and order them.

I take for granted that I can have fresh cut flowers all over my tiny house for a cost of about 15 Euros per week, which will always be a huge treat. At the moment, it's orange roses ("Radios"), red/yellow striated tulips and whatever the market will have to offer today. Flowers are the house gift of choice here when one is invited for a meal.

What else? It's so long since I last wrote that I've forgotten the salient bits. I need to jot things down for the blog, or will forget them.

Over Easter weekend, I went with my stellar neighbors (Dona and John) up to one of the Wadden islands (Vlieland). This involves driving up to the western end of the Afsluitdijk, or the massive dike that closed the Zuider Zee, in 1933 (much earlier than I'd thought).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afsluitdijk

One heads for Harlingen, which is the ferry boat launch point for Vlieland, at least. The ferry is massive (holds cars (although ONLY permanent residents may bring their cars) and about 900 people) and takes 90 minutes, through a very carefully marked watery path. There are sand shoals all around (with sea lions), so boats have to know what they're doing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlieland

Vlieland consists of one main street, lined with 17-century-style little gabled houses (some of them really are that old), one side of which back onto the dike shielding the tiny town from the Wadden Sea (between the island and the mainland). There is a church dating from 1641 (shut tight, even on Easter morning; they must have had a sunrise service), several small hotels and cosy restaurants. The north side of the island consists of a huge pine forest (through which one hikes and can rent horses for guided trail rides), some houses in the dunes, and lots of dunes and beach, although very windy. It alternately snowed, rained, hailed and blizzarded the entire time we were there. On our hike to the beach on Easter Monday, we were hit (literally) with a five-minute blizzard and could hardly walk, but its effect on the landscape was magical: the dune grass glistened as if stuck with diamonds. We had a coffee and walked back.

It was so refreshing to get away, even for a long weekend. Before driving back, we wandered around Harlingen, which is just far enough north for the light to be different. It felt a little like being in Scandinavia. Frisian is spoken there, but everyone also understands and speaks Dutch. I hated to leave the area. Dona and John have gone back this weekend. The little house where we stayed is owned by her brother-in-law's mother, who sadly is senile and lives in a care place on Vlieland. Her family promised her that they wouldn't change the house at all in her lifetime, so it remains decorated in the most awful taste, from the '60s: dark wallpaper, dark carpet, and stuffed with stuff. However, it was virtually free (we paid them 15 Euros a night), and fully stocked for cooking and sleeping. We just bought food. We read, slept a lot, played Scrabble, watched 'The English Patient' and hiked a lot.

And it's now nearly 4pm on Saturday and I haven't made my rounds of the market yet (flowers, cat food, lamp repair), so need to sign off and go scoop up the bargains.

Byesies, y'all,
Pamela