Holland and Frisia with Friends in the first hints of Spring

After six months of grey skies and perpetual dampness, the first cracks of spring could not come at a better time. We had friends visiting from the US for most of the past three weeks. I did not take much time off work though we did do a few things to take advantage of the good weather which lasted almost of the entire visit.

We visited the Instanbul collection in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam. No pictures allowed. There where artifacts from the entire Ottoman period from the fall of Constantinople to the reformation of Ataturk. There where many interesting pieces--one worth noting was a 15th century saber that belonged to royal Ottoman court that had a piece of box chain that rested across the knuckles of the holder. Notable, because it seems that there is the general view in the SCA that box change did not exist in period, and any kind of hand protection integrated into a sword, beyond a cross guard, is unusual.

When I reflect upon the early Ottoman, it is one sided to not also recall Byzantium, the culture and country uterly destroyed in its wake. The fall can be attributed to poor leadership, social decline, Christian politics, and the Fourth Crusade's sacking of the city, as much as the rise of the Ottomans. However, the image of the final day with Mehmed's guns battering a breach in the walls of the city culminating in the charge of the janissaries is irresistible. The Byzantine empire went into extinction when the last emperor, Constantine XI, drew his sword and himself charged into the throng of invaders rather than live without "his city". It is truly the stuff of movies are made of.

Most of the pictures are from drives around Holland and Frisia. Zaanse Shanse is a 16th century village with windmills, cog shops, museums, and other tourist stuff. Kind of like a dutch version of Colonial Williamsburg. The dye mill was great as you could walk around the guts of a working Windmill. The power these mills capture form the wind is impressive. No pictures inside as I lost my battery at this time.

Several pictures are along the North Sea and Wadden Sea coast and on the Afsluitdijk--the dike that closed off the Ziedersee making the interior of Holland a lot safer place to live in the face of high tides and storm surge. Our house in Amstelveen is actually about 10 feet below sea level,

The Wadden Sea is a vast body of shallow sea with some deeper channels. The shallows are almost entirely exposed at low tide and you can walk out to the outlying islands, if slogging through mud is you idea of fun.

Pictures here.