On 4/17/2014 8:08 AM, Poquito Loco wrote:
Some pics of latest trip to Holland. Late spring is a great time to visit Holland. Weather was
great, only a couple rainy days, but it was also cool, with temps in the 50's most of the time. Made
for some nice long walks through the countryside.

My friends live in a village called Stolwijk, about 6km south of Gouda, which is famous for its
cheese. In the old days, the surrounding farmers would bring there cheese to the Gouda town square
and haggle over the price/kilo of the cheese. The longer it had aged, the more the cost. Once the
price agreement was reached, the cheese would be officially weighed in the cheese weighing house.The
photo below shows the cheese laid out for inspection with the weighing house in the background:

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l2...ands201482.jpg

This shot shows the opposite angle, with the Gouda town hall in the background:

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l2...ands201481.jpg

Stolwijk has its own little cheese market where the cheese is produced, aged, and sold - and where
we buy ours. (We brought home only about 13 kg this trip.) This is the local market:

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l2...nds2014104.jpg

And here is the back room where the cheese is aged, coated, and banded. The different color bands
indicate the aging. 'Belegen' indicates old, and 'Extra Belegen' is older:

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l2...ackedGouda.jpg

The older the pricier because much of the water has evaporated.

Of course, Holland and tulips go hand in hand. Kerkenhof was high on my wife's list of 'do's' for
this trip, so here's some damn tulips:

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l2...ands201462.jpg
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l2...ands201461.jpg
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l2...ands201467.jpg

While in Kerkenhof, I came across this wooden carved statue. The demeanor depicted reminded me of
someone here, so I took the pic...

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l2...arcissitic.jpg

Walks through the Dutch countryside are great ways to spend a few hours in Holland. On the way out
of town I noticed the driveways to the houses...all beginning with a bridge across the front canal.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l2...ands201448.jpg

Although not very visible in the photo, the mailboxes for each house are on the house side of the
bridges. The postman must stop and walk across each bridge to deliver the mail. I asked my friend
why the boxes weren't placed on the roadside of the bridge. His answer, "Unions." If the boxes were
on the roadside, the mail could be delivered in much less time, therefore requiring fewer people.

Almost every walk in this neck of the woods is along a canal, 'cause the canals are everywhere.
Wildlife is plentiful:

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l2...ands201445.jpg

...as is livestock:

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l2...ands201443.jpg

Why the blue spots on the ass of the sheep? Good question, and also my first upon seeing this. The
farmers want to know which of the ewes have been mounted by the ram. A blue mark is placed on the
stomach of the ram. As he mounts the ewes, the blue rubs off. Voila...now the farmer knows his
answer.

I throw these next two in here just because. They are a black and a white VW 'UP'. Notice the model
names on the sides (a bit hard to see). The white one is called 'WHITE', and the black one 'BLACK'.
Of course, they'd never get away with that in this country.


http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l2...ands201414.jpg
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l2...ands201415.jpg

Holland is famous for windmills. Most of them are no longer in use, but some have been restored and
put back in use. One of the main jobs of windmills was to pump water from the polders up to the
surrounding river or canal. This shot shows strings of windmills along canals in the polder. Each
windmill in the string would raise the water about a meter, with the last dumping the water into the
surrounding river or large canal. In this case the water from this polder is dumped into the 'Lek'
river. Interestingly, 'Lek' means 'leak', and this river was formed when the Rhine broke through a
dike and formed a new channel.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l2...ands201417.jpg

A bit closer view of a mill. This one was used for grinding grain to make flour or whatever.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l2...lands20147.jpg

There. That's your Holland tour for today. Great trip. A country well worth a visit.



Thanks for the tour. Interesting place and great photos.