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In America, a building 50 years old is often given up to the wrecking ball. Europeans love to preserve. A building 200 or 300 years old is just getting seasoned. In Holland, many windmills, built in the 1600s are preserved. There are groups that still work them as specialty sawmills, grist mills, etc. Thatched roofs (usually over clay tiles) are still very common in Holland. And Holland has canals everywhere. Most canals are connected and many boats use them. Everyone, and I mean everyone, in Holland manicures their yard with amazing flowers.
A perfect place to start our first day in Holland is the Netherlands Open Air Heritage Museum near Arnhem, Holland. Surprisingly, the farms and buildings don't look much different than the actual modern countryside. Contemporary Holland farmers drive tractors, but you won't find any factory farms. Animals still graze in pastures for feed. Present-day trolleys are more modern than depicted in this museum, but Holland still has trolleys. The canals at the museum also represent the current countryside. Only the windmills have been replaced as a power source. However, as stated above, Holland has wisely preserved many of the fine old mills. They still occasionally dot the landscape.
This first day of our trip pretty well hooked us. When we eventually returned home, we immediately plotted out a way to continue traveling. The whole concept of RVs also caught our fancy.
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