Where we live.

The big city closest to me... lol a lot of cities look similar to me.

Introducing Friesland.

A province in the North of the Netherlands ( best known to most people wrongly as Holland) Friesland has been described by lonely planet as a hidden gem ranking 3rd in their places to visit in Europe.

I live in the main city  Leeuwarden which has a population of 100,000

Claims to fame include the Oldehove a church tower that actually leans at a more acute angle than the tower of pizza.

Its the birthplace of Saskia Uylenburgh, wife of the painter Rembrant.

Also the birth place of artist MC Escher

and of course of Margaretha Zelle better known as Mata Hari..

From my house Im 10 mins walk from the center of town and 10 minutes from open countryside cows sheep etc.

We are below sea level so the threat of flooding is  always there and there is a practice alarm that goes off at 12 noon on the first monday of the month..Any other time it goes off its time to panic!

Just down the road in Franeker is the worlds oldest working planetarium and in a village nearby called Kimswerd is the statue of Grutte Pier (Giant Peter) our very own version of Robin Hood  he fought bravely and fiercely against the invading Dutch when they arrived he had a sword taller than himself that he swung with ease ( he was 7 foot tall) and in one fight he is said to have wielded a plough againt the invaders.

This is a fiercly independant province with its own culture and language.  It is flat and could be called stark but it is beautiful and home to a lot of wildlife not seen in other areas of the country.