Jip and Janneke as every foreign people have lots of stereotype about the Netherlands. On one hand they want to jump deeply into the Dutch culture to break down the typical prejudices but also try all kind of things that are called typical Dutch. For this reason in the last few weeks they had two trips. The first one was by the countryside to visit a tulips farm (ok, tulips are from Turkey, but in the Netherlands they are quite good at growing them), while the second was to Kinderdijk, to see the windmills.
Janneke has a housemate, Lolkje who is the daughter of a real Dutch tulip farmer.

The first impression is definitely the most important thing, and in that case it was very typical Dutch. As soon as they got out the car, they saw a little cute Dutch boy, with blond hair of course, toddling in his red wooden shoes…
On that day Jip and Janneke learnt a lot about the ‘tulip profession’. They knew that there were two kinds of tulip farmer. One who grows tulips for the flowers and the other one who grows them for the bulbs.
Lolkje’s father, Piet is the second type but of course he is very enthusiastic about the tulips in general.

The two curious visitors could see the pictures about hundreds of tulips and know which one is good to give to your lover and which one is for a funeral. Then they went to watch the thousands of bulbs in boxes and also learnt how they planted them with the help of this big net and how they cut the buds during early spring to give more nutriments to the bulbs which will then give flowers the next year...

They also knew what was the biggest enemy of the tulips. It's an illness that comes when the bulbs can’t dry out perfectly so they start to rot and infect the other bulbs after each other in the box. If you have good nose for it, like merchants who trade with tulips have, you can smell this illness even if there are only a few sick bulbs in a huge box.
So Jip and Janneke wish all the best for this nice family and lots of healthy, beautiful bulbs in the next years!

They went also to visit the windmills because after the wooden shoes and the tulips, they are the third famous things that everybody knows about the Netherlands (except the easy drugs).
This place named Kinderdijk is interesting not just because of the old, nice windmills but also the process how they use them to pump out the water from the fields what they want to use for something else. (But this part Jip can explain you more:)       
 
Up to Jip now.
Jip drove his truly Italian car thru the flat land, until Kinderdijk (GPS).
The place is pretty impressive if you see it from a techie point of view.
The river is actually HIGHER than the land around.
This is possible because the complex of windmills (in the past) and diesel pumps nowadays keep the land dry, by pushing the water to the river.
In the past it was just a pond, but industrious Dutch people were able to see in the future, and built this system to get more land to coltivate, and less mosquitos to kill.
Jokes apart, it's really impressive, and the people living there is surely proud of their work.
We got to talk with this man who still runs one of these old windmills, actively pulling the water UP with just the strenght of the wind.
Pretty impressive.... and you really feel the power of this invisible blow, whistling over the wings of the mill, torquing the internal mechanism (made of wood!!) which thru some axis rotate the underneath wheel that pull the water.
And then you stand out, and you see the massive ground that "contains" the river..yeah.. contains...! Hard to understand or picture out.. a river which is standing "over" the land and not "in".. but hey.. that's Holland!
The windmills in line give an impressive sightseeing, and the place is full of birds... very peacefull.

Janneke is here again. Just to add some girlish point of view I have to tell you about the colours of the windmills:) In the past most of them were black because people who lived in them were poor. They used black paint what wasn't really paint but more pitch. And if you could see a green windmill that meant that people in it had more money. The miller also said that in Leiden you could see red and yellow windmills as well which showed what kind of religion they had in the area. The red ones were catholic and the yellow ones were protestant.

It was also interesting to know that nowadays they have a lot of problems with the water inside of the windmills. Especially ones what are from stones can let the rain inside and that can demage the walls later. Some of the owners try to plant laureates or other kind of climbing plants what lead the water down and safe the walls against the rain.

Last week we also did "wadlopen" what is a very tipical Dutch thing as well but this is another story:) 

I wanted to write an article about the Dutch cycling culture but it’s so obvious so I was waiting for something special what is enough interesting to attract even Dutch people’s attention…

   (a bit about bicycles upside down:)
At this moment I have a small collection about funny and interesting stories and observations.
First of all my “AHA” moment was when I knew that one bus season-ticket for 1 month for 3 zones (which is enough to go to work and home for me) is 88 euros. After this I shouldn’t ask any more why people use their bikes even in heavy rain. My reaction was that I bought an extra rain safe jacket and trousers preparing for autumn and winter :).

Beside this discovery I like to watch what Dutch people carry on their bicycles. The top list contains a big tree, a gravestone and a ladder… And I really find funny how the children are sitting in the “bakfiets”. It can be very comfortable for them but quite hard for their parents.

And I also recognised that here the bikes, like clotes or special objects told a lot bout their owners. 

But as I am here now for 4 months, of course I have my own bike story…
A nice, sunny Friday I had to leave somewhere my bike because I took a train and I came back only on Saturday. Because the special places for bikes are always full in front of the station I thought I put mine somewhere in the centre. In that time I didn’t know too much the city so I left it in one of the main square locked to a line pole. I was even very happy because on the top of the pole was a board with a camera picture so I thought it was the safest place in the neighborhood!
I forgot only one thing that the next day is Saturday so there is a big market in the centre of Utrecht exactly on this square… So the next morning I went to the square with a big smile on my face because of the nice memories from the previous evening but I became desperate very soon when I saw the tens of tents on the square where I left my bike.
Actually I was lucky because one of the merchant just laid down the bike and built their tent on it. So after 10 minutes with some help I could get back my bike without any penalty:)))
 Viva Holland!

We have something in common with Bianca Enthoven so it is easy for me to write about her. We both are a big fun of the sea but the reason is different. She grew up beside the seaside and I come from a country where is no sea so it is always something miraculous for me.

Bianca is the third young graphic designer who I want to introduce to you. She also just graduated and together with ‘The Curtain Girl’ (Laura) they already founded their own graphic design company. (Their website is: www.roquefort-ontwerpers.nl)

What are the talking slippers? These are bridges between the sea and people. In the past doctors discovered that the sea water cures lots of health problems and quite often they ordered for their patients to be beside the sea and swim in it. Nowadays we have hundreds of medicines and other artificial methods to cure ourselves so people forget that the sea is not only fun but also healthy. In our age we have also a big problem called stress. Everybody runs, full of work and things to do what brought the stress in our life. The sea is just perfect against the stress but people do not have enough attention to recognise this.
Bianca had an idea to make an artistic product, which transmits information about the sea and also addresses people’s attention to the sea and on the other hand it is something what people use on the seaside. This is how the ‘Talking Slippers’ were born.

Bianca splited the good effects of the sea for five categories and made images on a slipper for all of them. The first is the minerals in the water what are different than minerals are in any other kind of water. The fresh and salty air what is good for our lungs. The active life what you can have beside or in the sea, water sport or other games with the waves or the sand that not only children can enjoy.

The sun what is healthy anyway but beside the water is stronger because of the reflections so it gives you D vitamin and happiness. And the fifth one is the relaxation. The sound of the waves and seagulls, the view of the huge water, collecting shells or building sand castle is so relaxing that you forget easily all of your work and family problems….

What is the conclusion? Let’s follow Bianca’s slippers…. Step for! Step for! Step for! Step for! See you on the seaside!