I Am Dutch

I loved visiting Holland. I was part of a team that did the Nijmegen March. We were very lucky to be able to visit many great places while we were there. I was fortunate enough to be able to travel back to Holland several times, I remember one of my favourite places was ( I apologize in advance for messing up the spelling ) Kinderdyke. It was the place with all the beautiful windmills, they looked so amazing in the early morning mists. Amsterdam is a beautiful city, and there is so much going on, it is impossible not to enjoy yourself. I hope we get an option to post pictures here, and you can show everyone your beautiful part of the world.

Yeah @Librarymouse, Kinderdijk is nice, a bit too touristic, just like the Zaanse Schans. I know some beautiful spots with windmills in a part of Holland, near the polders of Beemster and Schermer. Some of them nicely and historicly correct rebuild.

Ah @Chaud, the history of the Netherlands (the Lowlands), including parts of Belgium (Flanders, Brabant, Artois) is interesting, because of the trade we had from the Middle Ages on - the Friesians started it, the Flemish cities Brugge Gent and Antwerpen moved on and then the free Republic had its Golden Age - and the art and craftmanswork we made here.

Also interesting about our history (and geography) is that we 'conquered' land from the water. The Netherlands or 'Low Lands' (in Spanish: Países Bajos) lies in a delta of rivers, you can compare it with Bangladesh or the Egyptian Nyle-delta. With dams and dykes and drainage (with sluices and windmills) we made the land dry. One problem remains: with to much drainage the land sinks lower, because the peatground subsidies (dries out and gets more compact).