Everyone knows that few things are better than seeing a place with a local, so we were both extra thrilled when our friend Marc (aka "The Flying Dutchman") offered to show us around his hometown of Almere. Then he even sweetened the deal. After 3 weeks of eating out, his mom was going to cook for us.
Almere is part of Flevoland, an 1400 sq. km area of reclaimed land and therefore the newest province in the Netherlands. Prior to the 1920's, there was no Flevoland, only ocean. This kind of outside-the-box thinking did not end with the reclamation of the land. The city of Almere sponsored a contest for architects to build "Fantasy houses" which would be exempt from all the usual building codes. The winners would be given financial assistance and a 5 year lease on the property (the intent being for the houses to be dismantled in five years time). The project was such a success that the houses are still standing, making for the most interesting housing development I've seen, yet.
Next, Marc took us to Lelystad to visit the Batavia, a replica of a 17th century ship which was constructed using the traditional building techniques and materials. Just before entering the ship, I was able to photograph three people who had an eerie resemblance to us, dressed in period costumes. I suspect two of them were not actually Dutch.
But the highlight of the day, without a doubt, was his mother's cooking. She was able to adapt Dutch cuisine to my herbivore palate and yet satisfy the carnivores amongst us. I regret that I do not have any photos of the dinner, but that would have required me to put down my fork and there are just some things that I will not do for a photo...
