Typical Holland

I know before I moved here I had a certain image in my head of what Holland was all about. I was rather certain I had seen it all from all the pretty pictures of windmills and tulips. HA was I so wrong! Almost 9 years later and I am still finding vreemd (strange) things here.
Here are some of the typical Dutch things - my pictures don't do the pictures from other books and travel sites justice... you can blame my lack of photography skills mixed with the fact that I don't have a $500 camera that produces miracles for me.

The typical tulips

The Typical windmill


The Typical (or maybe not so typical) wooden shoes.

The typical Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas)

The typical small car (ok this one is REALLY small but the smart car isn't much bigger).

Typical cows (I wasn't going to get any closer than that).

And many many canals

This is "typical Holland" the way the Dutch want their country to look.... gewoon (normal). The Dutch are very adamant about appearing very gewoon... but things are not always as they appear to be ;o)