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RE: [OM] Bergen-Op-Zoom (Holland) photography

Subject: RE: [OM] Bergen-Op-Zoom (Holland) photography
From: Olaf Greve <Ogreve@xxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2000 14:32:56 +0100
Hi Ranjan, William, Hans (and others reading this thread),

> Seems to me Olaf gave you most answers allready.

First off: it was actually Hans who gave the suggestions, I hadn't yet come
around to giving suggestions, but I will see if I can add some more
comments.

> If you want to see a whole lineup of really old and well preserved
> windmills (19, built in 1740) drive north from Bergen op Zoom to 
> Kinderdijk.

Even though I have never been to Kinderdijk and was born very near the
"Zaansche Schans" (mentioned by Hans), I have to say that the picture
postcards of the Kinderdijk windmills photographed at dusk and dawn are
beautiful. The Zaansche Schans also has a lot of nice windmills and some
traditional 19th-century Dutch houses. Some of the houses and windmills over
there seem to have been added recently though (at least, a few months ago I
was there after not having been there for some 15 years or so, and I saw a
lot of things which I think didn't use to be there before). Either way: both
places should be really nice for taking windmill shots. Keep one thing in
mind though: the Zaansche Schans is one of Holland's most touristic spots,
so unless you want to have bundles of tourists wearing yellow caps,
mega-sunglasses and purple backpacks, you might want to consider going there
at dawn (this should also give you the best lighting conditions). Regarding
the windmills in Amsterdam, I work near one of them. I believe the street
over there is "Zeeburgerstraat", but I'm not 100ertain. The windmill
looks nice, and can be photographed without too many distractions. A thing
one may find distracting (i.e. it totally takes out the 19th century and
Dutch feeling) is a small "tapas-bar" that has been built right below it.
The neon signs on that bar can add nicely to the picture though for a
twilight picture. Also, directly to the south of Amsterdam, there's a small
town called "Amstelveen", in it, on "Amsterdamseweg" -more or less at the
height of the A9 highway- you will find a nice windmill. Nevertheless, when
in Amsterdam there are things better pursued than windmills, as I agree with
Hans and William that "windmill spotting" is best done at Kinderdijk and
Zaansche Schans.

Regarding Amsterdam, Hans has already given a pretty good description. I
would just like to add a few sights though. When you're near the Anne Frank
huis, you're right on Prinsengracht in the area called "De Jordaan", this is
one of the most posh areas of Amsterdam, and has plenty of those famous
canal houses (very photogenic), this is definitely one of my favourite parts
of Amsterdam. Best of all over there, you will find Amsterdam's finest
church tower called "Westerkerk", for a small detail of that tower, check
out: http://www.web-wizards.com/cgi-bin/show_picture.cgi?country=holl&num=8

Also, you will find some more of my pictures at:
http://www.web-wizards.com/olympus/picture_gallery  (click on "gallery" at
the top, and then on "Netherlands" in the left hand side navigator frame).
On this page you will find some pictures of other interesting sights in
Amsterdam too, such as the "2ns best churchtower", being Zuiderkerk, which
can be seen beautifully over a canal. Then there's the replica of an ancient
(17th century) VOC ship, which is located next to the very futuristic
(former?) science museum called "New Metropolis", from the roof of that
building, I took the "Goodnight, Amsterdam" picture, exactly one year ago.
The other pictures I have up there are irrelevant to what you want, as they
were taken in winter and autumn, etc.

Other buildings of architectural interest in Amsterdam are: "Centraal
Station", "Concertgebouw", and "Stedelijk Museum".

Then, not too far away from Amsterdam there's a small place called "Muiden",
the town itself is already nice to see, but there's a nice castle over there
(called "Muiderslot"), this too, is very worthy of being photographed.

Furthermore in The Netherlands, you might consider going to the
"Deltawerken", these are some huge civil engineering masterpieces to make
sure our country doesn't disappear below the sea. These can be found in
"Zeeland". Make sure to bring some wide angles, and possibly some B/W film
when/if going there.

Wildlife-wise The Netherlands unfortunately doesn't have too much to offer
(unless you like taking pictures of cows and sheep ;) ). The area that
William mentioned (i.e. "De Biesbosch") is probably best, along with "De
Veluwen" (yes, Hans was born there ;))) ). The coast is not partcularly
beautiful, but the dunes are not so bad, although you're not allowed to
enter a big part of those.

Then, unfortunately by the time you'll be here, I will just have moved to
the east of the country, where there's not so much interesting stuff to be
seen. Meeting one another could therefore become difficult, but who knows?
Maybe I'l visit Amsterdam then...

Good, I guess that between the three of us we have now more or less covered
the majority of the interesting sights of The Netherlands. Your time
schedule will not allow for seeing them all, so you'll have to make a
selection. If you indicate how much spare time you think you'll have and
what your preference would be (out of the mentioned options), we can
probably think of a suitable itinerary for you...

Cheers!
Olafo

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