LIVING IN VLISSINGEN - AUGUST 7, 2005

I’ve always liked Holland. It’s a lovely country and the language seems soooo cute to me, an amusing mixture of German and English with enough gobbledegook thrown in to make it incomprehensible most of the time. Written Dutch is much easier to decipher than spoken, of course, although I can manage to understand the weather report on TV. Anything else usually eludes me, but that’s o.k. Everyone here speaks German or English or both.

We are in Zeeland for two weeks, in Vlissingen to be exact. We have a brand new house all to ourselves and the people who built it are in our house, in other words another home exchange, our eighth if I’ve counted correctly. We arrived here on Thursday evening just before dark. I managed to tear Frank away from the office before five o’clock so we could still have some light when we had to actually find the house. The trip was around 470 km and our trusty navigator led us right to the street so that all we had to do was find number “zeventien”.

                                                                              

"Our house" in Holland for our stay
                                                                              

                                                                              

The weather on Friday was not ideal, in fact it rained most of the day, so we got settled in and managed to find the grocery store to supplement what we had brought along with us. Red wine was probably the most important item. I always enjoy grocery shopping in other countries. It’s fun to see what is available although here I was hampered somewhat by my lack of basic Dutch. Some things looked appetizing but I wasn’t at all sure if they were flora or fauna. Maybe we’ll invest in a German – Dutch dictionary if only for curiosity’s sake.

The rain let up in the late afternoon so we decided to explore Vlissingen . We would have liked to bike in as it is not very far but unfortunately there has been a snag in our bike exchange. There are four lovely bikes in the garage but only one key. And the missing key is not where we were told to look. And we have had no answers to our e-mails about it. Anyway our trusty navigator took us to town where we even managed to find a parking place near the harbor. We walked along the water for at least a kilometer and all along the way people were setting up booths and stands. A few of them looked like they might be interesting but it would probably be another hour before they were all finished and the piped music was not pleasant. Why do such events so often have to be accompanied by loud tinny music?

                                                                              

                                                                              

The street festival was all along this waterfront.

                                                                              

                                                                              
We got to the end of the waterfront and walked through town. Of course, but this time everything was closed but that was all right. We checked out the restaurants and shops and decided to return the next day. Vlissingen is a nice little town but of course it’s too small to have a good music shop which Frank would like. There are, in addition to the old part of town, quite a few very interesting modern buildings.

                                                                              
It wasn't just the colors. It was also the shapes - lots of curves and rounded corners.

On Saturday morning we went back to town and miraculously all the stands and booths (and there must have been well over a hundred) were all gone and not a trace to be seen. All that effort for just a few hours – and such a quick clean up. We did a little shopping and had lunch at what was supposed to be one of the best restaurants in town for fish. It was in a very nice old house but the food was just okay. I’m not a big fan of French fries but there was only a choice between fries and bread. And there was no salad on the menu although when we left I saw people eating side salads. Maybe you just had to ask for one. The big attraction here seems to be mussels because they are offered everywhere and we saw several couples with a big bowl of mussels between them. Are mussels the same as clams? I’m not sure, but I’m not fond of either, nor oysters for that matter.
                                                                            

                                                                              

                                                                              
It looks nice, but the food was only so-so.

                                                                            

                                                                              
In the afternoon we drove to Middelburg, just a few kilometers from here. It’s a beautiful little town surrounded by canals with lots of nice old buildings. There was a fair going on in the market square with a lot of adventurous looking rides. And of course the obligatory piped music. The shops are only open to five thirty and we were a little late for shopping so we spent an hour just walking through town, admiring it and deciding to return soon.

                                                                              

Middelburg is surrounded by canals.