Zeeland, The Province That Named New Zealand…

In the last of the 2017 Garderen decorative fiberglass “klompen” (clogs0, the province represented is Zeeland. Wikipedia tells us: Zeeland is the westernmost and least populous province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands and peninsulas (hence its name, meaning “Sealand”) and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg. Its area is about 2,930 square kilometres (1,130 sq mi), of which almost 1,140 square kilometres (440 sq mi) is water, and it has a population of about 380,000.

Large parts of Zeeland are below sea level. The last great flooding of the area was in 1953. Tourism is an important economic activity. In the summer, its beaches make it a popular destination for tourists, especially German tourists. In some areas, the population can be two to four times higher during the high summer season. The coat of arms of Zeeland shows a lion half-emerged from water, and the text luctor et emergo (Latin for “I struggle and emerge”). The country of New Zealand was named after Zeeland after it was sighted by Dutch explorer Abel Tasman.

Wikipedia / Zeeland Province / The Netherlands

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Zeeland: Walcheren Once An Island Was…

The next decorative clog from the 2017 Garderen exhibition is all about Walcheren.

Walcheren is a region and former island in the Dutch province of Zeeland at the mouth of the Scheldt estuary. The two sides facing the North Sea consist of dunes and the rest of its coastline is made up of dykes. Middelburg, the provincial capital, lies at Walcheren’s center. Vlissingen, 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) to the south, is the main harbour and the third municipality is Veere.

Originally, Walcheren was an island, but polders and the Oosterscheldekering across the Eastern Scheldt have connected it to the (former) island of Zuid-Beveland, which in turn has been connected to the North Brabant mainland. As early as Roman times, the island functioned as a point of departure for ships going to Britain; it had a temple of the goddess Nehalennia who was popular with those who braved the waters of the North Sea. The Romans called it “Wallacra”, a term most likely associated with Walhaz, the name Germans used for Romans.

Wikipedia / Walcheren / Zeeland Province / The Netherlands

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Utrecht: At The Centre Of It All…

The next of the 2017 Garderen painted fiberglass clogs is all about the province of Utrecht. Wikipedia tell us: Utrecht is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and in the very centre of mainland Netherlands, and had a population of 347.574 in 2018.

Utrecht’s ancient city centre features many buildings and structures, several dating as far back as the High Middle Ages. It has been the religious centre of the Netherlands since the 8th century. It lost the status of prince-bishopric but remains the main religious centre in the country. Utrecht was the most important city in the Netherlands until the Dutch Golden Age, when it was surpassed by Amsterdam as the country’s cultural centre and most populous city.

Utrecht is host to Utrecht University, the largest university in the Netherlands, as well as several other institutions of higher education. Due to its central position within the country, it is an important transport hub for both rail and road transport. It has the second highest number of cultural events in the Netherlands, after Amsterdam.In 2012, Lonely Planet included Utrecht in the top 10 of the world’s unsung places.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utrecht

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The Hague: A City With Three Names…

My adopted home city is up next on the 2017 Garderen decorated “klompen”(clogs). Wikipedia tells us: “The Hague / Den Haag / ‘s-⁠Gravenhage is a city on the western coast of the Netherlands and the capital of the province of South Holland. It is also the seat of government of the Netherlands.

With a metropolitan population of more than 1 million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area, with a population of approximately 2.7 million, is the 13th-largest in the European Union and the most populous in the country.

The Hague is the seat of the Cabinet, the States General, the Supreme Court, and the Council of State of the Netherlands, but the city is not the constitutional capital of the Netherlands, that title goes to Amsterdam. King Willem-Alexander lives in (Palace) Huis ten Bosch there and works at the Noordeinde Palace in The Hague, together with Queen Máxima. Most foreign embassies in the Netherlands are located in the city. The Hague is also home to the world headquarters of Royal Dutch Shell and other Dutch companies.

The Hague is known as the home of international law and arbitration. The International Court of Justice, the main judicial arm of the United Nations, is located in the city, as well as the International Criminal Court, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, Europol, and approximately 200 other international governmental organisations.“‘

Wikipedia / The Hague / Province South Holland / The Netherlands

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

South Holland, My Adopted Back Yard…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The next of the decorated “klompen” (clogs) in the 2017 Garderen Sand Sculpture exhibition is about my home province: South Holland.

Since Dutch is my second language, I have an accent, speed of others speaking and regional dialects all over the country often catch me off guard (Himself is the Linguist in the family), I am usually accepted more as an “ex-pat” than “real Dutch”.

That’s ironic because I was born with both Dutch and New Zealand nationality, but being raised in the English language has both drawbacks and benefits. My native tongue has given me a job with many advantages, the possibility to raise completely bilingual and dual nationality children, and the Dutch language the chance to integrate into local life as much as possible.

Wikipedia tells us:”South Holland (Dutch: “Zuid-Holland”) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of just over 3.6 million making it the country’s most populous province.

Situated on the North Sea in the west of the Netherlands, South Holland covers an area of 3,403 km2 (1,314 sq mi), of which 585 km2 (226 sq mi) is water. It borders North Holland to the north, Utrecht and Gelderland to the east, and North Brabant and Zeeland to the south. The provincial capital is The Hague, while its largest city is Rotterdam.”

Wikipedia / South Holland / Province / The Netherlands

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Overjssel, “From Over The IJssel…”

Overijssel is a province of the Netherlands located in the eastern part of the country. The province’s name translates to “across the IJssel”, from the perspective of the Episcopal principality of Utrecht by which it was held until 1528. The capital city of Overijssel is Zwolle and the largest city is Enschede. The province had a population of 1,142,360 in 2015.

Wikipedia / Province Overijssel / The Netherlands

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Twente In The East…

Continuing with the decorative “klompen” (clogs) I found displayed in the 2017 Garderen Sand Sculpture Exhibition, we are now looking towards the more eastern provinces and Wiki tells us:

Twente is a non-administrative region in the eastern Netherlands, comprising the most urbanised and easternmost part of the province of Overijssel. Twente is most likely named after the ‘Tuihanti’ or ‘Tvihanti’, a Germanic tribe that settled in the area and was mentioned by the Roman historian Tacitus. Twente has approximately 620,000 inhabitants, most of whom live in its three largest cities: Almelo, Hengelo and Enschede, the latter being the main city of the region.’

Wikipedia / Twente / Province Overijssel / The Netherlands

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

North Holland, But Not The Most Northerly Province….

Following yesterdays post, the area we are “visiting” via the painted “klompen” (clogs) is North Holland. “Noord Holland” (North Holland) is a province of the Netherlands located in the northwestern part of the country. It is situated on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. In 2015, it had a population of 2,762,163 and a total area of 2,670 km2 (1,030 sq mi).

From the 9th to 16th century, the area was an integral part of the County of Holland. During this period West Friesland was incorporated. In the 17th and 18th century, the area was part of the province of Holland and commonly known as the Noorderkwartier (English: “Northern Quarter”). In 1840, the province of Holland was split into the two provinces of North Holland and South Holland. In 1855, the Haarlemmermeer was drained and turned into land.

The capital and seat of the provincial government is Haarlem, and the province’s largest city is the Netherlands’ capital Amsterdam. More than half of the province consists of reclaimed polder land situated below sea level. The West Frisian islands of Noorderhaaks and Texel are also part of the province.”

Wikipedia / Province North Holland / The Netherlands

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Schiphol, Its Story Continues To Grow…

I fixed the missing text in yesterday’s post (sadly I can only blame this on ‘operator error” rather than a technical failure of any variety. Apologies again.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

My next Garderen 2017 decorated fiberglass clog is all about Schiphol Airport.

“Amsterdam Airport Schiphol , known informally as Schiphol Airport (Dutch: Luchthaven Schiphol, is the main international airport of the Netherlands.

It is located 9 kilometres (5.6 miles) southwest of Amsterdam, in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer, North Holland.

It is the world’s eleventh busiest by total passenger traffic in 2017, third-busiest in Europe in terms of passenger volume and busiest in Europe in terms of aircraft movement.

The airport is built as a single-terminal concept: one large terminal split into three large departure halls.

Schiphol opened on 16 September 1916 as a military airbase.

The end of the First World War also saw the beginning of civilian use of Schiphol Airport and the airport eventually lost its military role completely. In 1949, it was decided that Schiphol was to become the primary airport of the Netherlands. The expansion came at the cost of a small town called Rijk, which was demolished to make room for the growing airport.

Before 1852, the entire Haarlemmermeer polder in which the airport lies was a large lake with some shallow areas. There are multiple stories of how the place got its name. The most popular story is that in the shallow waters sudden violent storms could claim many ships.

Winds were particularly strong in the Schiphol area since the prevailing wind direction is from the south-west, and Schiphol lies in the north-eastern corner of the lake. In English, Schiphol translates to “Ships Hell”, a reference to many ships supposedly lost in the lake. When the lake was reclaimed, however, no shipwrecks were found.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Another possible origin of the name is the word “scheepshaal”.

A scheepshaal is a ditch or small canal in which ships would be towed from one lake to another.

A third explanation would be that the name derived from the words schip hol.

This is a low-lying area of land (hol) from where wood would be obtained to build ships.

There is quite a lengthy entry about Schipol on the Wikipedia website, and even though we fly reasonably often, one thing I didn’t know previously about the airport is:

“The Rijksmuseum operates an annex at the airport, offering a small overview of both classical and contemporary art. Admission to the exhibits is free.

In summer 2010, Schiphol Airport Library opened alongside the museum, providing passengers access to a collection of 1,200 books (translated into 29 languages) by Dutch authors on subjects relating to the country’s history and culture.  The 89.9 m2 (968 sq ft) library offers e-books and music by Dutch artists and composers that can be downloaded free of charge to a laptop or mobile device.”

I also learned: “The Schiphol air traffic control tower, with a height of 101 m (331 ft), was the tallest in the world when constructed in 1991. Schiphol is geographically one of the world’s lowest major commercial airports. The entire airport is below sea level. The lowest point sits at 3.4 m (11 ft) below sea level: 1.4 m (4.5 ft) below the Dutch Normaal Amsterdams Peil (NAP). The runways are around 3 m (9.8 ft) below NAP.”

Wikipedia / Schiphol Airport / Province North Holland / The Netherlands.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Amsterdam, The City On The Amstel…

Oops! Today’s post went out without text (which I type separately into a word document because the WordPress programme sometimes decides to delete text just entered when you try to update) Apparently my brain melted in the recent heat and I forgot to add the text to the post. My apologies for the brain fade.
In today’s post from my 2017 visit to the Garderen Sand Sculpture exhibition i am in the painted “klompen” (clog) section that features Amsterdam. Wikipedia tells us: “Amsterdam is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands. Located in the province of North Holland, Amsterdam’s name derives from Amstelredamme, indicative of the city’s origin around a dam in the river Amstel. Originating as a small fishing village in the late 12th century, Amsterdam became one of the most important ports in the world in the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century and became the leading centre for finance and trade. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the city expanded, and many new neighbourhoods and suburbs were planned and built. The 17th-century canals of Amsterdam and the 19–20th century Defence Line of Amsterdam are on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Sloten, annexed in 1921 by the municipality of Amsterdam, is the oldest part of the city, dating to the 9th century.”

Wikipedia / Amsterdam /Province North Holland / The Netherlands

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)