A very large part of The Netherlands used to be sea. Using dikes to isolate the water into lakes and then windmills to take the water out, more and more land was reclaimed, which was a much more friendly and economical way than starting wars over it with other countries.

This shot was taken on the island of Marken, actually one of the fewer places that was already sticking out of the Dutch South Sea. As the sea was dammed, the water in the back of this dike is now actually a lake. Marken is a very well known tourist spot as the island is now connected with the mainland through a dam as well.

Cycling is the #1 pastime for recreation as well as transportation, but sometimes it is a hard fight against the winds on the flat and open lands…

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Ok, I pushed the processing a bit :)

But the skies were dark while the surfers were catching the light in the fluorescent sails. Kitesurfing is getting really popular nowadays and my friends have even gotten me to stand (well..) on a board for at least half a second! It is fun though and a good example of the available energy.

As it is Live Earth Day today I wanted to focus on a bit alternative energy that is not so alternative after all. In fact the windmills have created half of our country over here…
If the weather is clear here you can see a long line of modern windmills standing at the horizon; a new park to grab some of the available energy. A wonderful sight and a step in the right direction.

But there is no reason not to combine responsibility and joy of life. Play in the sunshine!

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Some of you might prefer activities closer to sealevel, so here is a shot taken during the SAIL in Amsterdam.

This gathering of all the largest sailboats and schooners in the world takes place every 5 years and draws millions of people. The sunset gives it a nice atmosphere, here in ‘Het IJ’, the channel behind Central Station in Amsterdam. See you in August 2010?

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The people of the Netherlands are normally quite introvert, which is illustrated by the local saying: ‘act normally, then you will act already crazy enough’, but one day each year, everybody goes crazy: Queensday, the 30th of April.

Officially to commemorate the b-day of the former Queen (the current Queen Beatrix has her b-day on 31st January, not a real good date for a party as it is mid winter and cold here), it is now known worldwide for all things happening:

Amsterdam doubles its population size for a day, and the entire country is coloured Red, White and Blue, but especially: Orange, the national colour. People who normally do not want to caught dead with nationalist symbols are fully dressed in Orange, dancing all day long on boats that cruise the beautiful canals of Amsterdam. The entire country is one big flee market as everybody is allowed to sell all their junk and valuables on the street. Children try to make a euro by playing musical instruments, major artists perform on giant stages, and on every corner hundreds of orange people are dancing the day and night away to the sound of impromptu DJ’s, whether influenced by plenty of Heinekens or not :-)

If you have only one day to spare in the Netherlands, make it 30th April. See you next year!

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For now this is the last one of the Dutch Tulips as you might get bored with them, but maybe later this year I will add some more.

I just wanted to give some counterweight to all the bad news from the past week. I love the USA with its beautiful nature and its people and have many friends there, but I like the fact that over here in Europe it is easier to buy flowers than a gun and bullets, both off-line as well as online. Call me a hippie, but what if an amendment would be The Right to Grow or Receive flowers? It’s either that or all teachers should wear guns in school to protect them from students and vice versa. Imagine having to give a bad grade then..

Again, it is amazing how strong the colours were, all of the previous pictures I had to desaturate a bit as they looked a bit fake and oversaturated straight from the camera.

Anyway, I am happy that these grow so close to home and will go out now to buy a few..

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I like the complementary colours, or should I say complimentary colours?

It is great to see thousands of these in a row, but just a few dozen is nice as well.

There is actually an interesting part in Dutch history that was almost forgotten until about 6 years ago all the Internet stocks and investments collapsed: The Tulip Mania:

From Wikipedia:

The term tulip mania (alternatively tulipomania) is used metaphorically to refer to any large economic bubble. The term originally came from the period in the history of the Netherlands during which demand for tulip bulbs reached such a peak that enormous prices were charged for a single bulb. It took place in the first part of the 17th century, especially in 1636–37.

The event is remembered in part because of its extended discussion in the book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, written by popular British journalist Charles Mackay in 1843, more than two centuries after the event.

Read the full article on Wikipediafor some more backgrounders, though it was maybe less spectacular than it might look at a first glance, it was quite a novelty for the world and almost 4 centuries later, we still have not learn too much from it :)

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Though my good friend Eduardo insists that Tulips are the beautiful ladies of the Netherlands, these are the real ones.

The Keukenhof is a huge collection of gardens showing all possible variations of tulips as well as some other flowers. Incredibly touristic as it is, I preferred to stay away, but I promised to show my Argentinean friend to show them, so off we went.

Yes, there were thousands of people even on a weekday, but what a pleasure it was to see all these colours. You will have to trust me that I actually had to de-saturate the colours of these and the next pictures, there was no need to exaggerate them. Enjoy spring and do not forget to buy your loved ones a flower every now and then. Or just send a link to this image :)

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One of the things most foreign people know about the Netherlands is that loads of cheese and flowers are produced here.

I love the fields of tulips in all colours that we have here in spring. Normally all flowers bloom end of April, but this year had the warmest winter in recorded history and halfway through April, most flowers were already cut as the bulbs are the valuable part.

This is a small field near the small place called Lisse, home of the renowned Keukenhof, the openair exposition of flowers. This is already an example of the field that colour the Lowlands every spring. Normally these rows are much fuller and much bigger, this is just a small Tulip field. I will post a few close-ups of the different types of tulips next days to let you celebrate the real spring!

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Well, the biggest problem of this image is that I do not have categories for it :)
It’s not an Exposed Planet, as the exposure was taken away for a few hour. And frankly it is not even a planet, but a moon, but it might be nice to share with the ones that did not see this full lunar eclipse last Saturday.

In the old days this was seen as a sign from the gods, nowadays most people with access to schools know that it is just the shadow of the earth falling over the moon. The little light that is still emitted from Earth, is reflected back and is giving the Moon its reddish appearance, making it look like a closer version Mars.

Read more about Lunar Eclipses on Wikipedia. By the way, these happen quite regularly; the next eclipse is August 28, so mark your calendar and have a fun night out :)

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The Netherlands were known for their endless rows of windmills. There were thousands, many of them used to reclaim the land from the sea. As a result about half of the country is effectively below sealevel and that percentage is now growing again as the sealevel is rising…

Nowadays most of the old mills have gone except for some monuments. Now we have these new windmills and I love them just as much. Some people complain about desecration of the landscape, I rather look at them as saving the landscape as if we do not act soon, this land will be drowned again as it was before: all this land on the right side of the water on this picture was still sea -later lake- 75 years ago.

One other thing I like about The Netherlands is the bicycle culture. Sights like these are common here: people cycling on a 2-lane cycle path which is a large as the road besides it. There are more than twice as many bicycles than there are cars in this small country with 16 million inhabitants.

I personally have cycled several trips of more than a thousand kilometers and will do this again, it is the best way to travel and really see and experience the places. So maybe you can take your bike next time you need to go shopping or ask your local government to make your city more bikefriendly to stimulate reluctant others as well. In the end I will be grateful as at this moment my house is only theoretical below sealevel, I would like to keep it that way :-)

Happy Valentine everybody!

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