Strandhuisje and Sea

We biked to a beach near our little place in Santpoort and were struck by the utterly straight lines of the landscape. Looking down from the dunes, the shore and the horizon were exactly parallel for miles in either direction.

There were hundreds of these little beach houses - "strandhuisje," in Dutch. Most of them are made from old shipping containers, and we were fascinated by them.

We met Fritz (shown above, eating a sandwich), outside his girlfriend's (that's her inside, cooking) strandhuis. He said that it's really the end of the season, and that everyone is packing up their cottages for winter. They are apparently picked up by big tractors and taken somewhere in the dunes where they're more protected. Below, you can see a few that have been prepared and left - notice how the decks in front of them are hinged so that they can be lifted up and fastened over the front windows.

They're very cozy looking, and Fritz was very nice. He told us that he had been coming down from Amsterdam every weekend this summer.

The beach was pretty empty at this end, but a mile or so south of here, there were some major party preparations going on. Hordes of young people were getting ready for a big clubbing party at one of the discos.

We stood outside this little stand to have lunch - bakkevis, below, and some new herring, in the bottom picture. Both were delicious, especially the herring.