Delfts Blue

Delfts Blue Amsterdammertjes

Delfts Blue-porcelain (or "Delfts Blauw" in Dutch) is a famous product of the Netherlands, you'll find it in a lot of souvenir-shops (don't be surprised if cheaper articles are made in Hong-Kong), and you have to know we have copied it in the 17th century from Chinese porcelain-work.
If you want to visit a factory of Delfts Blue you have to go to the "Koninklijke Porceleyne Fles" in -how could it be somewhere else- the town of Delft.
Delft is also famous because of their canals ("grachten" in Dutch) and has some nice museums and old buildings.
In Delft there's not so much specials to do for gays.
If you want to buy a gay-couple (there is also a lesbian-couple for our sisters) as on the picture, you have to be in the gay- & lesbian-bookstore "Vrolijk" in Amsterdam.

Tulips

Tulips

The Netherlands are also famous of the tulips ("Tulpen" in Dutch).
I guess you shouldn't know that tulips original are from Turkey and Persia.
If you are in Holland in spring you can visit the "Keukenhof" in Lisse or just travel at your own around Lisse and Hillegom.
As you should know we have a lot of other flowers too whole the year round in the Netherlands.
Just look around and especially in the windows of our houses.
If you want to see more of flowers you can visit just a market or a flower auction ("Bloemenveiling" in Dutch), for instance "Aalsmeer Flower Auction" in Aalsmeer or "Flower Auction Holland" in Naaldwijk.

Windmills

Windmill

As you should know, we have a lot of typical Dutch Windmills, the famous mills are in the village of Kinderdijk, there you will found more as 20 mills in a short distance of each other, this are mostly mills for pumping the water out of the polders. The mill on the picture is one of them.
You will see the highest mills in the town of Schiedam, that mills were used for grind the malt for the genever-industry.
There are also mills for sawing the wood, grinding the mustard, grinding the corn, and so on.
On this web site "The Dutch Windmill" you can see how a windmill works.
All parts of Holland have there own types of mills and so on.
It's possible to visit a lot of mills, just ask it at the Tourist Information of the place or part of the country you are.
You can also visit the site of "The International Molinological Society"

Painters

Night Watch

In the past we had some famous painters in Holland, who never have heard of "Rembrandt (Harmensz) van Rijn" (1606-1669), "Vincent van Gogh" (1853-1890) or "Jan Vermeer" (1632-1675)?
In the younger years we had also men as "Karel Appel" (1921) and "Piet Mondriaan" (1872-1944) and did you never heard of the graphic art of "Maurits Cornelis Escher" (1898-1972)?
In Amsterdam in the "Rijksmuseum" you will find the famous "Night Watch" ("Nachtwacht" in Dutch) of "Rembrandt" and in the "Van Gogh Museum" you will find a lot of works of "Van Gogh". Don't be surprised if you see there a lot of Japanese people, they like his works very well.
In the "Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art" in Amsterdam you can find, you can guess, a lot of modern art.
In "Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen" in Rotterdam you can find a lot of differend kinds of art.

Wooden Shoes

Wooden Shoe

All of you should have heard of the wooden shoes ("klompen" in Dutch), I don't hope you should think we are all wearing them all times.
Untill the begin of the 20th century they where used by the lower classes, now they are just used by farmers and they are nice by working in gardens and..... a lot are sold as a souvenir.
Formerly the where made by hand with a few tools but now they're made in factories like "Nijhuis Wooden Shoes" or "Klompenfabriek Sueters".

Gay Life

Canal parade

As you should know, The Netherlands are a very liberal country, being gay is not really a problem here, "live and let live" as we say.
For instance: my colleagues on my works know I am.
Also here there are still some people -like people of orthodox religions or of other cultures- who don't know how to handle it.
Especially in Amsterdam there is a width spectrum of gay-life and in the Canal Zone ("Grachtengordel" in Dutch) there is a much higher number of gay-people as the regular 5%.
In other towns (Rotterdam, Groningen, Eindhoven, etc.) you find a more friendly and easy type of outgoing gay-live as the busy one in Amsterdam.
If you want to know or see what we have, just go to the site of the "Gay & Lesbian Switchboard Netherlands".
If you want to know something about Amsterdam you can also go to the site of "Gay Amsterdam On-line".

Queen Beatrix

Queen Beatrix

Now we have our 4th queen in a row, Queen Beatrix ("Koningin Beatrix" in Dutch), but she has only sons, so it looks like the next monarch will be a king.
We are proud at our Royal family, but they only have a representative role in these years and the government is leading the country.
Our Queen knows where see is talking about, in 1965, when see was still Princes, she was recognized by a photographer when she was accompany our Major Bosshardt selling the periodical of the Salvation Army in the Red light area of Amsterdam.
Our Queen Beatrix has here birthday on January, 31st but we still have our Queens day on April, 30th, that's the birthday of our last queen, Queen Juliana.
Our Queens day in Amsterdam is quiet a happening for us as gays, you should celebrate Queens day with us, but it's very very busy in Amsterdam that particular day, to say, you can walk over heads.
You should have to know in Dutch they don't call gays "Koninginnen" as they call us in English "Queens", in Dutch there are other words for that.
If you want to know more about our Royal family you may visit the sit of "The Dutch Royal House".

Street organs

Street organ

I think the Lowlands (Also Flanders, the Dutch speaking part of Belgium) are also famous about the street- or band organs.
You will see them in a lot of places, but the number of them is getting lesser and lesser.
Formerly they must turn a wheel (that's why we call them "draaiorgel", like something of "turning organ" in English), but the most of still in use being organs has an petrol- or electric engine now.
If street organs and other mechanical instruments fascinate you, you have to go to the "Nationaal Museum van Speelklok tot Pierement" in the town of Utrecht, visit the small Band Organ Museum "The Kungelsorgel" in the town of Haarlem.
For information you can visit the site of the Dutch Circle of Band Organ Friends "Kring van Draaiorgelvrienden" or the site of Band Organ Building "E.Pluer".

Tourist Board
Here you'll find the web site of "The Netherlands Board of Tourism".