100% Dutch I

In Holland, we met up with my Oma! She traveled from Beverly to the Netherlands to visit her family, show us the Holland she knew, and to help us feel better because we missed her so much!

With her brother Jan, and Marianne we went to Giethorn... a small village in Holland where each house is on it's own island and there are no cars: since you need to go by boat to get anywhere. It's know as the "Venice of the North"... there we rented a boat and "punter'ed"... where instead of a motor or row, you use a long stick to push the boat around. Not the fastest method of transportation, but it's a good workout, and a smooth ride for everyone else.

One of the funniest parts was the bridges... since each house was on its own island, each one had it's own bridge. Whoever was "puntering" had to duck for each bridge... or else they would end up in the water.

Another day we went to Keukenhof... probly one of the most stereotypical Dutch things in the world. It's a huge flower (mainly Tulip) event. It's kinda like Disney Land for garden fanatics. Because of the incredibly hot weather, we missed the fields of flowers, but there was no lack of flower displays to walk around. This picture is from the Internet.... but it's pretty much exactly what it looked like.

Here is Renee being dutch...