Dateline: Willemstad, the Netherlands. This entry was written on Friday, August 28. Our cruise is winding down to a close, tomorrow is our last full day on the ship. We’ve spent the last two days in the Netherlands, which translates as “the low countries.” Holland is only a part of the Netherlands, a couple of provinces or states if you will. And some months ago on a cruise liner I had a citizen of this low and soggy land give me a bad time for referring to all Netherlands people as “Dutch.” He was a citizen of the Netherland and was not Dutch, he said, but Frisian or some such.
Discussions of the history of this land always include William of Orange, who helped them liberate themselves from Catholic/Spanish rule. He later became the Protestant liberator of Northern Ireland, which is why the Prots of Belfast are called Orangemen and why they wear orange when marching to irritate the green-wearing Catholics.
Sunday we are in Antwerp, Belgium, a country that probably shouldn’t exist. The southern part of the country speaks French and is populated by Walloons, the northern part of the country speaks more-or-less Dutch and is populated by the Flemish. Of course these two groups don’t like each other even slightly. Does anybody like the French?
