Trip to The Netherlands!

Today we had a trip through Flanders and into the Netherlands with Low Countries Studies. We're not supposed to call it 'Holland' because Holland is only one province of the Netherlands, so to call it that would be neglecting other important provinces such as Zeeland!!!

We had all sorts of stops on the way through Flanders, fields used for medieval cloth trade, a town called Kaprijke, and another strange town, Boekhoute, which used to be coastal but is now about 50km inland (there are fishing boats in the middle of fields).

Then we headed across the border with the Netherlands. These were my first steps :)


We stopped right on the border between the Netherlands and Belgium. The buses in the photo below are parked on the border dyke (the type to stop flooding :P) Behind the buses is the Netherlands, this side is Belgium!!


We stopped to drill for peat. Not a typical tourist activity but our tour guide was a geologist hehe. There is a bout a metre of marine sediment covering the peat, because the area apparently flooded a lot from the sea (because its all reclaimed land) before the dyke where the buses are park was built.

Then we headed to a town called Hoofdplaat for lunch. Where we all had free beer and icecream. And we stopped at the 'beach' aka the delta of the Westerschlde.


Then we had a tour through a windmill that still grinds corn! Yuppers.


So that was my trip to the Netherlands! Lots more photos on Flickr page :)

xxx hope yer all well