My first real trip into the Netherlands (Holland) - besides driving through to another destination. The trip landed me in Bergen op Zoom and Tholen. I was there for a meeting with a key European Supplier, with whom our relationship started on what I took to be a rocky note. The Dutch are notoriously direct and blunt… a cultural nuance I didn’t understand until after my first encounter. I felt defensive and under attack during our first meeting in June, which I arranged primarily as a pleasantry to start the working relationship. I have since learned what to expect. This meeting was really very pleasant and constructive. We spent the first hour with light chit chat over a variety of pastries, brought in by one of the employees, whose father owns the local bakery. As the guest now, instead of the host like our first meeting, things were very different! A plant tour and some real business discussion about future plans, volume, etc. made for a good day. I had a few hours to walk around the quaint little fishing town of Tholen.
To my complete surprise, I came around a corner to find a huge, restored windmill from the 1870s. This was Don Quixote material!! It was just the nicest surprise! I wanted to see one in Holland when I was there, but didn’t know how to find one! Wandering the streets in little (and big) European towns is just the best way to find interesting things! I had to drive all over to find wooden shoes for the boys too. They are actually used/worn for gardening, apparently, because I had to find the Dutch equivalent of Lowes, where a wall of “Klompers” were found in the gardening section, by the fertilizer and live kipper (chickens)! I had a really cool apartment for the night in Bergen op Zoom, and had dinner outside in the Grote Markt square. Very European to say the least! Loved it!
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