Books, Arts & Manners: Barging through the Tulips

IT’S TULIP TIME in Holland. And we are booked for a seven-day cruise that will take us from Amsterdam to Haarlem, Rotterdam, Gouda, Delft, Leyden, and back, on the Juliana, a converted 126-foot-long coal barge that accommodates 18 passengers and a crew of six. On this trip, the passengers are fun, the crew young, helpful, and pleasantly raffish. Cabins are small but comfortable, and the saloon and dining area are light and airy. Food, liquor, guided tours, transportation—everything but the tip—is included in rates ranging from about $1,700 to $2,000 a person.

Green fields (it’s mid April) filled with browsing cows and sheep, calves and lambs, stretch back from the canals on either side. In and around Haarlem huge greenhouses dot the landscape, emitting an eerie gleam at night. You note the absence of fences; tiny canals, dividing the fields into squares and rectangles, fulfill that function. You notice, too, the absence of dense woods. There is no forest primeval in Holland. You will see no ruined castles on a hill. You will see no hill. But where else can you look up to find a windmill etched against the skyline, its sails now permanently folded, a reminder of the day when the wind was harnessed to keep the waters at bay and keep the grindstones turning?

PL

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Priscilla L. Buckley

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IT’S TULIP TIME in Holland. And we are booked for a seven-day cruise that will take us from Amsterdam to Haarlem, Rotterdam, Gouda, Delft, Leyden, and back, on the Juliana, a converted 126-foot-long coal barge that accommodates 18 passengers and a crew of six. On this trip, the passengers are fun, the crew young, helpful, and pleasantly raffish. Cabins are small but comfortable, and the saloon and dining area are light and airy. Food, liquor, guided tours, transportation—everything but the tip—is included in rates ranging from about $1,700 to $2,000 a person.

Green fields (it’s mid April) filled with browsing cows and sheep, calves and lambs, stretch back from the canals on either side. In and around Haarlem huge greenhouses dot the landscape, emitting an eerie gleam at night. You note the absence of fences; tiny canals, dividing the fields into squares and rectangles, fulfill that function. You notice, too, the absence of dense woods. There is no forest primeval in Holland. You will see no ruined castles on a hill. You will see no hill. But where else can you look up to find a windmill etched against the skyline, its sails now permanently folded, a reminder of the day when the wind was harnessed to keep the waters at bay and keep the grindstones turning?