I enjoyed this journey in Netherlands: first of all the water canals of Amsterdam (about 100 kilometers of canals, 1.500 brigdes connecting about 90 islands). The three main canals dug in the 17th century form concentric belts around the city: we can see barges ad sailing boats on which the people live. We notice the creativity of the Dutch architects like Marthijn Pool o, Wouter Valkenier or Mijke de Kok who have promoted floating houses and live themselves in floating houses with water recycling systems (they enjoy the brightness of their houses because of the glints of sun on the canals). On the other side Suzanne Oxenaar manages 28 lock houses transformed into guesthouses. Besides we meet Charlotte a photographer who takes pictures of the water canals showing the glints of the sun on the canals.
Speaking about water since 1996 the young Dutch boys and girls learn swimming and saving their lives if they fall into water.
Netherlands is also the country of the flowers: the tulips and also the daffodils, the dahlia and the yacinths: there are bouquet designers live Florian Seyt, artists like Natasja Sadi who combine sugar flowers and usual flowers and then great moment like the Bloemencorso at Bollenstreek since 1947: about 1 million of prdons come to see the floats decorated with flowers (tulips, yacinths or daffodils).
I enjoyed lso the visit of a Dutch mooorland (a protected area) where Marianne Duinkerken breeds her Drenthe Heath sheep (one of the oldest races of sheep in Europ): Isaac Span is a dyer using natural plants to dye the wool of Drenthe Heath sheep and the artist Cludy Jongstra is famous for her tapestries .
Also very interesting is the Ketelbroek, a land of trees and shrubs made by the botanist Wouter van Eck: about 400 species of edible plants: the cherf Emile Van der Staak comes often to Ketelbroek looking for new edible plants and in his restaurant (2 Michelin stars, one usual star and one sustainable cooking star) Emile offers vegetarian food (pâté made with nuts for exemple)
There are about 1.000 windmills in Netherlands: first the windmills were used to pump water from the lowlands obtaining then what they call polders: the 19 windmills of Kinderdijk have been declared Unesco World Heritage site and 16 families still live in these windmills. Then we see the Vriendshap windmill where the young Suzanne Brakenhoff and her millermaster Wouter Pfeiffer produce flours.
I enjoyed very the encounters of Jérôme with Marius Smit (the bike tour, the collect of plastic wastes), with Suzanne Vrolijk , the floating guesthouse manager, with Linda der Slot and Marlies and their families in the tulip field, with with Diro Te Voortwis, the organic farmer, wth his friend Luc Kusters (also 2 Michelin stars, one usual and one for sustainable cooking), with Hank Volkers (the National Maritime Museum and the sailos songs and with Jan and Joroen Schreur at Giethoorn (the boat workshop, the buckwheat crepes and the sailing boat race): very nice encounters with king¡d Dutch men and women.