The Netherlands………Land of Contrasts.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What is “wilde plussen”?
A. A Dutch men’s cologne
B. A type of wild berries only found in the Netherlands
C. The process by which males relieve themselves anywhere they feel like it
D. A rare Holland wild flower
Our next stop began with a train ride from Brussels to Rotterdam. We were very excited about this portion of our trip because we were being met at the train station by a Diana, a former Houghton College graduate living in the Netherlands now. Diana married a “Dutchie”, Arjan, and they had promised to show us around the area and treat us to a sampling of real Dutch cooking. They didn’t disappoint. We began with a trip to “Kinderdijk”, an area about 10 miles outside of Rotterdam. It is a region filled with canals and many original 18th century windmills. As a young girl I remembered reading the book, Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates, and after gazing upon this impressive Dutch scenery, it was even more beautiful than I’d imagined it would be. Diana took us to some other interesting sights in Rotterdam such as St. Laurenskerk, a beautiful cathedral, and Kubus woning, an interesting apartment complex downtown created out of rectangular cubes. We also took a short train ride to Dordrecht, a quaint, little seaport village. We all witnessed a miracle too……Jerry tried, ate, then asked for a second helping of mussels, a summer-time Dutch delicacy. He HATES sea food, however, Arjan changed his mind on this one. We drew the line at eating raw herring though…we both agreed we would try it, but after Arjan opened the package and the strong fishy smell wafted out, we just couldn’t do it. It was such a gift to spend time with our friends in Rotterdam and we learned a lot from them about Dutch culture and the “Nederlander” way of life. From there, we headed out by train to Amsterdam on our own where we were to meet up with Ben. He was finishing his last day of school, and before he arrived, Jerry and I spent the day wandering around Amsterdam, checking out all the sights. We took a canal boat ride and it was lovely. Most of the homes there are built right on the canals, no small feat of engineering. We visited the Van Gogh Museum and the Anne Frank house. Seeing the room where Anne hid was both amazing and sobering, and we both felt instantly thankful for all the many blessings in our life. We were also introduced to the “stroop waffle”, a yummy Dutch treat, and spent the rest of the day looking for places to buy them. We ended our Amsterdam visit by taking a walk through the “Red Light District”, which we were assured was very safe and crawling with tourists, who like us, were curious as to what this infamous area looked like. It was crowded with tourists, and we did feel safe, but it definitely is an “anything goes” section of town, much like all of Europe. We met Ben at the train station, and the three of us headed out on the next leg of our journey……Copenhagen, Denmark.
ANSWER: C
“Wilde plussen” is a real problem in the Netherlands. Our friends Arjan and Diana explained that many men just don’t feel the need to find a bath room (probably since you have to pay for them), and will look for a corner or wall to relieve themselves. YUCK!!!!!