Dutch towns.

Two Dutch towns:  Woudsend and Sneek.

A very large church - St. Martin's - with its unexplained wooden sidekick - in the center of Sneek.

Grand Cafe occupies a corner between the main road and the canal in Woudsend.

Netherlands towns were surprising to me.  From the village of Woudsend to the big city of Amsterdam, they were old-fashioned, even historic, but modern as well.  I certainly did not expect to see people in wooden shoes, women in white bonnets, men in blue balloon-leg pants, like some illustration from a child's storybook.  But I also did not expect to see everyone using cell phones, bike-riders not wearing helmets or spandex, absolutely up-to-date public transportation.  And the canals - - tiny canal connecting a farm with a larger canal, where in Virginia there'd be a long farm lane out to the main road.  And big canals full of heavily laden barges, some even carrying shipping containers stacked three deep.

So here are some photos of two of them, from the little village of Woudsend to the town of Sneek.  First, Woudsen, where we picked up the boat but were thwarted by bad weather and had to spend the first night here.

Yes! a windmill!  it appears to be part of a boat club now.

Hmm.  Interesting use of a wooden shoe.

A row of tiny houses was typical of the center of the village of Woudsend.

We visited a pastry shop looking for apple tart for my birthday.



Dinner will arrive in just a moment.



The main road through Woudsend crosses on a liftbridge over the canal.

The red and white gate is opening and the cyclists are preparing to cross.  I think the only hills in this area of Netherlands are those at liftbridges.

An example of the beautiful new modern buses that run throughout Friesland.

On a very windy afternoon, I have a lesson in driving the boat.

Then on to the town of Sneek, in Friesland, big enough to have trains stop here but there's no train station.  There is, however, a very lovely "ship museum" that celebrates Friesland shipping from the "Golden Age" to the present.

This structure is the ancient "Waterpoort" - an important landmark in the town of Sneek.

Our boat is moored, and Pat and Barbara study the chart.

School is out, and the middle-schoolers enjoyed the afternoon warmth before mounting their bikes for home.

Of course we found an ice cream store!

Most canal-side houses had two windows usually uncurtained, and ornamented with a pair of vases or candlesticks or plants - - completely visible to passers-by.

Two fishermen next to our boat seem to have caught little tiny fish only.

Fifteen grey-haired men swiftly rowed past.



Some of the interesting old buildings in the center of Sneek.



A very blurry rising full  moon over Sneek.

This is a small boat typical of the fishing fleet in this part of Friesland.

The Ship Museum had entire walls from "Golden Age" homes installed as display cases and doorways.  This is an especially delicately painted example.

A beautiful tall case clock in an 18th century room.



An ice sled - put your children in it, strap on your skates, and take off pushing?