Sightseeing in the Mindfields
No Tulips Without Rain, 10: Living on the Edge
July 05, 2023
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The Zuider Zee may be the sole name that many adults recall from their elementary school study of The Netherlands. The exotic alliteration doubtless served to deposit it in our memory banks. Now the body of water that bore that persistent name has been separated from the North Sea by dikes. The shallow bay has been divided into several smaller lake...
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No Tulips Without Rain, 9: Downstream from Delft
June 29, 2023
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Our ship stayed overnight in Rotterdam. The dawn did little to illuminate the grey curtain of clouds on our coldest morning yet. The day’s original itinerary had given us a choice between a walking tour in Rotterdam or a bus trip to Delft.
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> Yesterday, our captain decided that he wanted the ship to pass through a certain canal lock before the l...
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No Tulips Without Rain, 8: The Windmills at Kinderdijk
June 23, 2023
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The Dutch are proud of their windmills, and revere them as integral to the development of their nation. Since the 12th Century, windmills have been used to power the pumps that regulate the flow of water, preventing floods and enabling the cultivation of land at or below sea level. The windmills also ground grain for flour. Some windmills operating...
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No Tulips without Rain, 7: A Harbor in Zeeland
June 16, 2023
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Veere was our first stop in The Netherlands, in Zeeland. Zeeland is the district at the southern edge of the country, where most of the land has been wrested from the water. Veere was a river harbor during the Middle Ages. By 1300, it was collecting harbor fees from wool merchants and other exporters. Veere traded with Scotland for raw fleece to be...
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No Tulips Without Rain, 6: The Glory of Ghent
June 09, 2023
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The Belgian city of Ghent flourished and surpassed its commercial rival, Bruges, during the late Middle Ages. Ghent grew wealthy as a center of the cloth trade in Flanders. During that period, only Paris was a more populous European city. Ghent’s medieval merchants and nobles demonstrated their piety by erecting churches in such profusion that Ghen...
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No Tulips Without Rain, 5: Reconsidering Rubens
June 01, 2023
The official walking tour of Antwerp was an uncomfortable affair, owing to the damp, chilly conditions this morning, though it was still worthwhile. Yesterday, the sunlight had encouraged us to photograph almost every cranny of the old city center’s architecture. When we had peered into the Cathedral of Our Lady, it had been in hopes of glimpsing o...
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No Tulips Without Rain, 3: The Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium
May 25, 2023
We walked through the Parc de Bruxelles from our hotel in order to reach the Museum of Fine Arts. It was quite cold, though bright, so we had intended to set a fairly brisk pace. Yet we slowed to look at the bronze statues that lined both sides of our path. They were comic cats in a variety of roles, all versions of the same rotund character with a...
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No Tulips Without Rain, 4: An Antwerp Afternoon
May 23, 2023
Our transfer from Brussels to Antwerp by train was not as simple a matter as Belgium’s extensive rail system and modest geographical area might suggest. It is true that the trains were frequent, but we had to wrestle with our luggage when elevators were out of service and some escalators between levels traveled only upwards.
Once we arrived at A...
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No Tulips Without Rain, 2:. Grease and Grandeur
May 20, 2023
The Belgians’ assertions about the superiority of their carbohydrates are not restricted to chocolate and waffles. They claim also to have invented and perfected frites, which are never called French fries within Belgian borders. The sliced potatoes are fried twice. Once the oil is drained, the frites are served with a variety of sauces.
We disc...
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No Tulips Without Rain, 1: Never on Wednesday
May 14, 2023
If you tell someone that you are going to Belgium, it is likely that your listener’s response will be to insist that you visit Bruges. Bruges’ charm has received the imprimatur of the United Nations as well as that of the countless tourists who have marveled at the beauty of the Gothic architecture that caused the city to be designated a World He...
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© Star Arts by Tamar