Notice that the flag is at half mast. Today was “Herdenkingsdag”, a day set aside to remember the dead of WWII. Lots of people had flags out, and all were at half mast. At 7:58 PM the whole country observed two minutes of silence. Everything stopped. We were on a train at the time, and that stopped, too. The conductor announced the commemoration, they played taps, and afterwards the conductor thanked everyone for their cooperation before continuing the trip.

We were taking the train back from spending the day in Dronten, visiting Willem’s sister, Marianne, and brother-in-law, Hans. It was lovely catching up with them and seeing the different landscapes from the train along the way. The area they live in is on land reclaimed from the sea starting 50 years ago. The process is slow and iterative, first building dikes around sections at a time and using huge pumping stations to pump the water inside the dikes back out into the open sea. As each section becomes dry, the mud of the ocean floor is gradually transformed into firm, arable land. As our old boss at Tennant used to say, “God made the world, but the Dutch made Holland.”

When the process is complete, the land is ready for building and habitation, as shown in the first photo above. It is connected to the “mainland” by bridges and is otherwise indistinguishable from any other part of the country. The soil remains a little sandy, with traces of salt – perfect growing conditions for tulips…

… and the water that was pumped out joins what has become a lake, to be used for recreation.

This marina is part of a club and restaurant, where we had tea this afternoon.

New land also gets new windmills. These big, twenty-first century ones produce electricity. Gone are the days of the picturesque little wooden mills that pumped water, sawed wood, and ground grain.