Voorbereiding

(Image from thestyletrial.com)

We're going to Amsterdam next week and to Paris in December.  To prepare, we're doing what we wish we had done before our trip to Italy: reading about where we're going. 

For Amsterdam, we've mostly stuck to some travel books, although I just finished reading:

(Image from Amazon.com)

It was pretty entertaining and gave a glimpse into Condon's experience living in Amsterdam. I could relate to many of the 'newly-there' feelings he describes.

We love the Xenophobe's Guides series - so we got this one:

(Image from ovalbooks.com)

Some days, when M got home from work I would bombard him:

"Did you know that the Dutch population is 16.5 million?"
"Ummm..."
"That's compared with 5 million Danes, 5 million Scots, 10 million Belgians...."
"Oh. Wow."
"Yeah, and the Netherlands is HALF the size of Scotland, not quite as large as Denmark, and could fit into Spain 12 times!"
"Been reading today?"

I also learned that it's the NETHERLANDS, not Holland:

"Hey Sweetie, did you know that it's the NETHERLANDS, not Holland because Holland is actually a province in the Netherlands?"
"Yes."
"Oh. But did you know that it's actually North Holland and South Holland that are provinces and that there isn't really a Holland at all?"
"Yes."
"You did not."
Sigh...

We also found a wonderful series of travel books published by The Little Bookroom, including:

 (Image from littlebookroom.com)

It's a whole collection of beautifully-photographed shops and ateliers in Amsterdam.  I was so inspired by one of the artists in the book, that I wrote to her to ask if I could make an appointment to see her studio and perhaps have her make me something.  She was so kind in her response, apologizing that she was "out of Holland on her honeymoon" and would be returning the day we're leaving.  I did not correct her or  helpfully inform her that it's the NETHERLANDS, not Holland. Hee!  I will stay in touch with her, and perhaps have her make me something anyway.  She makes bags. Beautiful leather bags.  Her name is Margriet Deppe and her website is Depster.

Of course, whenever I think of Holland or the Netherlands or the Dutch, my mind goes immediately to a book from my childhood that I read so many times I practically had it memorized and took out of the library so often that they should have just given it to me:

Photo and information below is from the fitchfamily.com website:

 The Dutch Twins by Lucy Fitch Perkins. (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1911, 190 pp.) Lucy Adeline (Fitch) Perkins (1865-1937), No. 7098, wrote a series of seven "geographical" books for children in the first seven grades of school. In addition to The Dutch Twins , she wrote The Eskimo Twins , The Japanese Twins , etc. She also wrote a "historical" series of three books for grades four through seven. Lucy illustrated all the books herself.
The Dutch Twins , written for first graders, tells the story of Kit and Kat Vedder and has chapters with titles such as "The Day They Went Fishing," "Market Day With Father," and so forth. In the back of the book are two pages of "Suggestions To Teachers." The book also has a dedicatory page "To Lawrence and other children." Lucy's only son was named Lawrence Bradford Perkins.

I loved the whole series, but The Dutch Twins was my favorite. I doubt that M and I will be doing any of the things that the Dutch Twins did, such as skating on a canal, sleeping in cabinet-like featherbeds, and milking cows and drinking the warm milk. It's too bad, since I've thought about those images for probably 35 years.  Unfortunately, we're going there in 2011, not 1911. We'll still have a great time.