The Adventures of "Flat Clara"!

There is a children's book called Flat Stanley. In the story Stanley is a boy who was flattened when a bulletin board falls on him. He then goes on many adventures as "Flat Stanley".  Our niece Clara sent us a hand made drawing of her flat self....so that she could come to visit!  Here is the story, along with pictures that we sent back for Clara to share with her class:

The Travels of Flat Clara 

Hello my name is Flat Clara, I was sent to visit my Uncle Andy and Aunt Stephanie who live in Holland, in the country of the Netherlands.   This is a small country is in North-West Europe and borders on the North Sea.  You can look and see it on the map.  The people who live there are called the Dutch.

The name “Netherlands” means low lands in the language the people speak there.  They call it that because much of the country is below sea level.   To keep the ocean from flooding the land, the people built big walls of stone and earth, called dikes, to keep the water out.  They used the windmills to pump out the water and keep the land dry.

My Uncle and Aunt live in town called Haarlem, near the capital City of  Amsterdam.  Haarlem is a very old City, people have been living in this area for over 1000 years.  It is famous for growing beautiful flowers, call Tulips.  On the day I arrived the people in Haarlem were having a flower festival to celebrate the blooming of all the tulips.  Uncle Andy and Aunt Stephanie took me to see the flowers in the City.

Here I am next to one of the parade floats, all made of flowers, just like in the Rose Parade.

Here I am in the town square next to more floats. The building in the background is the City Hall.. it was build over 500 years ago, and was originally a castle.. can you see see the old castle walls? 

Next we went shopping for a pair of wooden shoes the Dutch like to wear.   These look too big ... 

But these fit just right....

Then we went to a cheese shop to where they had lots of yummy cheese.... can you find me in the picture...? 

 I like this one the best!

Next, we went to a 600 year old church called Saint Bavo’s, named after the Saint who protected the City of Haarlem from invaders from other lands.  Can you see the bells in the tower, they play music on the hour. 

Here is another picture of the church..

Then we got a snack, special waffle cookies call stroopwafels... they are a favorite in Holland and very delicious...

Then a walk along the river Spaarne, can you see the big church in the background? 

The fishermen use this river to go out to the North Sea.

One more float of a cow all made of flowers... isn’t he funny? 

Then along the canal to Uncle Andy’s and Aunt Stephanie’s for lunch... 

I hope you enjoyed my pictures of Haarlem and can go and visit the Netherlands someday.. But watch out for leaking dikes....!!!

Bye for Now...