Tilting at windmills

Molens van Kinderdijk or the Windmills of Kinderdijk, the Netherlands. Click photos to view detail.

 

In nearly two weeks in the Netherlands, we watched kite-surfing from a windy beach beneath giant grey clouds. We walked along narrow canals accented with yellow and white water lilies. We fed swans and their teenagers, as well as ducks. We watched a coot add twigs to her nest, then escort her chirping babies for an awkward swim. We hiked trails dotted with windmills. We browsed fruit and vegetable stalls in market squares and brocantes set up along little canals. We traced Johannes Vermeer's illustrious path in Delft and learned more about his light-filled paintings that still capture the world's imagination. We wandered cobble-stoned streets and narrow passageways. We marveled at the grand 17th-century architecture and symbolism of churches, old and new.

We met and photographed off-the-chart talented musicians at the Delft Jazz Festival. We exchanged stories and laughter at dinner with long-time friends in a quay-side restaurant in Alblasserdam and shared a delicious lunch at Bussia in Amsterdam with the lovely Pia Jane Bijkerk. My husband went bird-watching and through happenstance, I met an accomplished jewelry designer, with an airy atelier enhanced with a magnificent Art Deco table and Fortuny lamps (more in an upcoming post). I purchased a vintage Delft pottery pitcher at an antique shop and an exquisite covered basket over 100 years old at a brocante. I left behind a pair of shoes, so my small bag jammed with two-weeks'-worth-of-clothes could accommodate the treasure.

At another brocante I bought a seven-foot wide canvas geological world map in English, Spanish and Dutch. It was quite the kerfuffle transporting the rolled-up map in cars and onto a train back to Paris! We ate yummy caramel stroopwaffles and Dutch fries with mayonnaise and struck up conversations with strangers. We rode trains and walked and walked for miles. We read maps and explored unfamiliar neighbourhoods. We talked to estate agents and friends about specific areas. We had amazing dinners at charming restaurants, in contrast with lunch at an outdoor cafe where three bees buzzing about my head eventually chased me away.

We went to Amsterdam, Utrecht, Delft, Leiden and Rotterdam, as well as smaller places including Haarlem, Amstelveen and Zandvoort. We went to another beach town with roundabouts and design much like an English seaside town. I took over 1,200 photographs, from grand architecture and historic buildings to portraits of my friends' five-year-old daughter to first-day-of-school festivities at a technical college to concerts and quirky sights along the way.

Through it all, I felt totally peaceful, at ease and at home, even though I speak hardly a word of Dutch. In less than six months, it will be home, both literally and figuratively.  Not sure where yet, but I am confident the right place will present itself. And I can't wait!

Tall grasses and reeds lining the canals were blowing in high winds.

Windmills line the banks of intersecting canals.

Here's a video of French composer Michel Legrand performing Windmills of my Mind. Years ago, I had the good fortune to meet him in Chicago.

Check back soon for more photos from the Netherlands.

Comments

[Chris]

Tara, I love reading about your trip, and seeing these lovely photos. We so wanted to see Amsterdam this trip, but we won't get to. However, we will see it one day! We leave for Paris oct 8 and I am gearing up. Really excited. Your comment about being relaxed and at home...that resonates with me. After having been to Paris one time 11 years ago, I somehow feel like I'm going to a place that feels like home. I have so many new places to see that my wife and I will be exploring and learning together, and Paris will become her home, as well!

[Stephanie]

Tara,
I admire your adventurous spirit! Looking forward to more photos and to see where you 'land'.

x..x

[Lui, Heaven]

The photographs look like paintings! Oh, I'm so glad to drop by!

[christina]

i love these photos. i find windmills to be so pretty.
xo

[jeanie]

Tara, it sounds like a perfectly wonderful time. And glorious scenery, too! I'm glad it feels like home, as it soon will be. But I only wish you had your spot to live already, so you wouldn't have had to haul the map back to Paris!

[Swirly]

Oh I love these photos and the ones from Delft. I so appreciate all you share here...I love seeing these places through your eyes.

[amber]

You have been living an exciting life! But when will you fit in another California trip?

These are all so lovely.

oxoxo :)

[Gemma@Greyscale]

I did not realise the the windmills would be so close together! A glorious, romantic countryside!

[Marci W.]

oh Tara, what a delicious write-up of your adventure in Holland. AND, I learned a new word !!! (kerfuffle). LOL
Here's to (more) wonderful days ahead! xo

[Gillian]

Tara by the way you write of it, it sure sounds like home for you already! You have a passion in your voice for this place. I know the right neighbourhood will grab you and the right opportunity will come too.
Never has it ever occured to me to travel to Holland until now. It looks very inviting! Lots of prettiness.
Wishing you good fortune in finding your perfect place there!
xoxo

[Leau]

another place I am growing to love through your eyes...so beautiful. I've read lots of Edward de Bono's work and he is Dutch and writes about the different ways we think and work together and has these funny little asides...like always carry a newspaper when riding a bike in Amsterdam...it gives you something to read at stop signs and you can put it under your jacket to keep you warm...if there are others like him there...you will have a great time!

[Marilyn]

Lovely song and gorgeous pictures. It sounds like your heart is moving already to the Netherlands. How wonderful for you. I know you will find the perfect place.

[Elizabeth]

Such splendid windmills. Gosh, the weather looks appallingly English.......Hm.......
I always want to wander round northern Europe and then we end up in hot places.
You make Holland seem a real must see again very soon.

[Mary H.]

Truly incredible....Can't wait for more photos and tales of your travels!

[pia]

Gorgeous! I must get out there and check out these windmills (so many things I still haven't done since moving here!). x