Things I'm Going to Miss

This post is quite premature, I know. We're not going back to the old country for another 7 months, but we've been discussing our destination so much that it seems our departure is much closer. Consequently, I've been getting antsy to go: discussing all the things (and people) I'm looking forward to in Canada has not been great for getting me to appreciate this experience while I'm living it. So, in an effort to know what I've got before it's gone, here are some things I really like about this place:

-the flowers. Spring starts in February and everything's covered in flowers and green stuff until about November. Even then, we did see some very hardy window baskets and such in December and January. The Netherlands also grows about 90% of the world's flowers so we have flower markets every Saturday selling tulips and roses at about 10 eurocents a stem. That's about 15 cents Canadian. Not that you buy them in stems - usually you get them 50 for 5 euros. We had to buy several vases just so we could put 50 tulips in water.

-the proximity to everything. We live a 5 minute walk from 3 grocery stores, a 15 minute walk from the central area of town and the train station and a max 30 minute bike ride to the edge of town.

-the green zones between towns. Federal legislation here mandates a green belt between every city/village and the next. As a result, we can go for a ride through green fields (and yes, they're pretty much always green - they do a first cut of hay here in May) and canals and trees with minimal trouble.

-the bike infrastructure. There are bike lanes and lights and even long distance routes all over the country. It's magnificent. My only complaints about them are that we share with some pretty powerful scooters and that some riders and just inconsiderate.

-nice architechture. Most of the buildings I see here are pleasant to look at: they've got archways, tiled detailing, stained glass windows and just generally have been built with some concern for their appearance. That's a lovely change fromt he neo-brutalist style so often used in western Canada.

-really good public transit. This is definately made easier by the size of the country, but it's pretty doable to never own a car here because the trains and buses make a reasonably efficient and comprehensive system.

-Dutch cheese. Most of what we get would be called Gouda back home but the price and the quality of it here seem to put it in a different category altogether. Flavourful and reasonably priced, we've used Dutch cheese to replace cheddar and mozza quite happily. It's soooo good.