Dutched, part 1

Travel · Culture · Netherlands · Holland · Haarlem · Amsterdam

"So, how's your bike?"... I don't have one yet, but that doesn't make me less "Dutched". As I walk by the canals, I wonder who came first here, the mallards or the people. Amazing people indeed (not that mallards are less amazing, but they just don't talk that much nor show off in any way); these guys literally stopped the sea. Amazing people. Where I come from, they would have probably said: "oh, to hell with this place, it keeps getting flooded, let's just move elsewhere".

But not them, the fierce yet gentle Dutch saw their homeland flooded once, twice, and again and again, then and at some point they decided enough was enough. Bring on the Dams. Hence the canals...and the fascination with this place. Yeah, flat-land, flood-land, but..where else could you visit a whole country on a kayak? Here you can.

I still think they do not know how to build bikes or toilets (really, guys, this thing of separating your loo from a sink a shower space or else, just doesn't make sense), but apart from that, they're good.Good folks, good manners, really good system, good approach to life, good life/work balance... good things.

Feels like each and every one here agreed to give up some extra comfort (the one no American would ever think of giving away, to be more precise) for a greater good, social stability, a system that works (oh, well, the locals complain, but I do dare them to get any paperwork done at all in South America, Thailand or Italy, for that matter).

Steep stairs, elbow-breaking shower cabins, it all gets forgiven when you pass by that lovely bridge and look at the happy mallards, kids playing in the park, bikes everywhere and birds, birds singing louder than shopping mall pre-programmed playlists, louder than cars...a tiny little Paradise, for humans and mallards alike.

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Dutched, part 1

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