Holland, or The Netherlands, was guaranteed a slot on our trip. Here is a country that had to literally claim their land from the sea. No, not all of it, but keeping the sea at bay (only a tiny pun) has been a priority and a testament to the will of this country.

Yes, of course we went to see the dikes and the windmills. At one time, there were ten thousand windmills in this land about the size of Connecticut and Massachusetts combined.   Originally, these pumped water out of the low areas. But they were used for just about everything that required power. They functioned as lumber mills, sawing huge timbers into boards. They ground wheat and other grains. Today there are about eleven hundred mills.

Their most important function now is to draw tourists.

Amsterdam is a beautiful city. It has an extensive canal system, with over one hundred kilometers (62 miles) of canals. Much like a wheel, there are “spokes” radiating out from the city center and then canals circulating around, with the city center acting as the hub. A ride around these canals is a must activity for the tourist so of course we took one. Beautiful homes and buildings along the way, many dating back to 18th century.

Amsterdam is Holland’s largest city at about 800,000 (though its metropolitan population is twice that). But it is not the seat of the Dutch government. That distinction goes to The Hague. Rotterdam is more of a work-horse city, with more commerce than tourists – at least in our observance.

Holland is a bicycling country. There are many paved bikeways across the countryside that were as wide, and better, than many country roads in Ireland – or the U.S., for that matter. It is claimed that Holland has the most extensive cycling network in the world. Amsterdam has more cycles than people.

Eventually, we headed south and a little least, crossing into Belgium without even a welcome sign to announce that we had left one country and entered another. Belgium was a pretty country with rolling hills, green fields, and lots of beautiful flowers. Brussels is the largest city at over a million . There is very good public transportation both in Brussels and across the country. They claimed trains between Brussels and Antwerp ran every fifteen minutes. We found nothing to dispute that claim.

Luxemburg had not been on our original list of places to visit. But, it was close and Earlene really wanted to see it, so off we went. Luxemburg is about the size of Delaware, and has a population of about half a million people. It is nestled between Belgium, Germany, and France. From Brussels, Luxemburg city (ranked as the safest city in the world) is only 132 miles away. We checked into the Double Tree, high on a hill facing Luxemburg City.

The city itself, sits on a plateau which has extremely steep cliffs on all sides. Of course, today, there are roads cut into the side to allow traffic to travel safely into the city. It is a pretty town, with century-old buildings, and of course, a palace. But one of the most surprising things was to walk into the main square and hear Cajun music – honest to goodness Louisiana Cajun music. A festival  commemorated the seventy-first anniversary of  U.S. forces entering the city, having driven the Germans out. When we got into the center we could see a stage. A sign proclaimed this performance of French Cajun music was by the Louisiana Band. Eventually, we talked with the leader of the group. He was a native Louisianan, who now lives in Germany.

It is indeed a small world.

After our Luxembourg visit, we headed back to Brussels and too soon were on a flight back to the Texas. It had been a wonderful trip, we had seen many interesting countries, and accumulated years of fantastic memories. Thank you for traveling along with me.

Next week, I’ll talk about something we are ALL interested in.

James R. Callan also finds time to write mysteries and suspense novels. Two of his most recent are:

Over My Dead Body, A Father Frank Mystery,  and
A Ton of Gold A Crystal Moore suspense novel.  Click either name for more information on the book.

“What is truly impressive about Callan’s writing is his gift for characterization.” From a review by John Brantingham of Over My Dead Body .

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