'Now we are driving on the bottom of the sea.'

I feel like I have fallen down the hole in Alice in Wonderland. This place is just familiar enough to feel slightly like home: it is flat, agriculture is the dominant element in the landscape outside of the cities, roads criss-cross the fields and there is water. But then there are twists, like the ways in which there is water, and the slight variation in elevation from polder to polder. A polder, by the way, is land that has been reclaimed from the sea, and is now developed in some way. And this is what we were driving across today, guided by Jan Wouter Brugenkamp, a Dutch landscape architect. I think the reason that this all feels so odd to me is that the land is so geometric, the water flows in such straight lines cutting across the landscape, it feels so engineered and the human presence is everywhere. But then there are birds everywhere too, and there is water literally everywhere, making me feel like I am teetering on the edge of being swallowed up by the sea the minute it decides it is done with humanity. Jan made the point that 100 meters is a big change in elevation to us, but to the Dutch, 100 centimeters is a big deal: it is the difference between being (mostly) dry and able to live on the land, and being underwater.

There is something else he said too that struck me: 'it is important in a crowded country to have places where you are nowhere.' I take this for granted, both the wanting to be nowhere sometimes, and being able to do it in my own country, so filled with vast spaces and places where the eye can't see beyond the next ridge or around the corner. Here it is so flat, and in many places that are open, wind turbines fill the horizon, beautiful in their movement and power yet also ever-present, and therefor somewhat daunting. He said, 'no emptiness comes with the windmills.' Every bit of land here is put to use.



Panorama of the nature preserve, Oostvaarders-Wold, built on a polder originally set aside for industrial development but instead turned into a preserve for birds and red deer.


Beautiful textures at a memorial of an old church in one of the tiny agricultural towns on the Beemster.

Canals that run through people's back yards in Middenbeemster.


This is a gas station!


So far every coffee I have had has been incredible. And everyone wears layers here. I am pleased about both these things, though I could handle a few more layers myself...it is much colder than I expected.

Looking at a section showing the landforms of the Netherlands.
Harbor in Enkhuizen.

Hopefully this isn't too hard to see: bikes on top of bikes, everywhere. It's like heaven.