All Things Holland

I found this interesting.  The Dutch were definitely a force in the east indies but did you know they had a settlement in Taiwan!  For 38 years ( 1624-1662) the colonial Dutch government had a settlement on the island, toward the south, as a pit stop to trade with China and Japan; almost all of the Dutch there were soldiers at a defensive fort.  At that time the island was inhabited by aborigines and Chinese immigrants, its main resource was deer.  Basically after a while the native people were sick of Hollands tyrannical colonization, and after several uprisings they took back their island.  Some of the interesting contributions of Dutch rule are the standards that were set for Taiwan's international trade ability as well as a liberal view of immigration that allowed many Chinese to come to the island, creating an ethnically Chinese majority, and opening up communication between the Chinese ...

KLM continues to be super fun company and they are continuing their Holland Cool campaign. But why does it always have to be Facebook! Check this out. https://www.facebook.com/KLMUSA?v=app_654446261251028&app_data=gaReferrerOverride%3D I tried putting the video here but you have to have the link emailed to view it. Anyway. Who's up for trying herring? Anyone have any ideas on how to pronounce that beast?

More fast and furious blog entries! I found a neat blog entry on spas in Amsterdam. You could just jump in the canal... http://www.everettpotter.com/2013/07/spawatch-akasha-spa-amsterdam/

I can't do this article justice. Check this out. You may have already read it. http://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2012/08/23/spectacular-new-floating-cycle-roundabout/

Ahhh May 4th, Tulip Time Festival in Holland, Michigan, what can I say about you?  Thankfully this year the Tulip Time Festival did indeed have tulips, unlike last year's StemFest.  However; in my humble opinion Tulip Time was pretty bad.  Imagine a strange assortment of vendors selling their quilted nascar blankets, overcrowded streets and restaurants, and mock indian encampments.  No modern furnature, gouda, dutch bicycles, dutch vendor food like those little pancake thingys or herrings to be found.   Surely the walk to Tulip island where the only true Dutch windmill in America resides must have been amazing?    ( de zwaan was pretty cool, but.... ) First you must pay a hefty chunk of change to enter the island after walking a couple of miles in the blazing sun.  Once there you gaze upon two rows of tulips, followed by a short jaunt to the tourist mill where you see a mildewy replica of Amsterdam and are tempted to buy a button that says "Kiss m...

Whoa. It's almost been a month since our last post. Sorry. Back to being regular. Here's one I've had in my emails for a while. Full Article So the thought is what do you do if your city is on the coast or below sea level? Prepare for the eventuality and either build higher or make them float. That's exactly what some of these cities have done. And obviously the Netherlands is high on that list. The article above has more pictures and detail but check out a few of these. Amsterdam - Very Futuristic with 2 levels.     Amsterdam - 75 Floating Houses clumped together (video at the link)   The rest on the link are from other areas of the world. But fitting that the Netherlands has the 2 top posts.   

Yes one day I will have a separate blog for my bike posts but until then I will continue to relay an important Dutch cultural obsession, the bicycle.  What can be better than a completely man-powered means of ground transportation.  Maybe a man powered flying vehicle?  Come on Leonardo!  He had to have one for his own personal use.  Anyway, the other day I ran across this interesting ad for a bike made by the brand Republic.  Republic bikes are custom made, like how you can customize cars online, and they seem to focus on fixies or single speed bikes, in fact their limited edition right now is "Portlandia".  All of their bikes begin with a famous Greek thinker's name: Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, ...etc.  This blurb about the bike caught my eye. Plato® Dutch bikes The satisfying spirit of the Dutch bike is upright and relaxed, practical and pleasant ... and  Plato  agrees. The Plato Dutch bicycle is designed as a mix of retro stylin...