Sky

The Netherlands is flat.

Like. There are no slopes.  No summits.  Few ditches...it's rare that getting anywhere by bike requires effort.  F.L.A.T.

And, as I would know if I were from Saskatchewan or Manitoba, flat land makes for incredible skies.

What I love about the Dutch skies, however, are their intermingling with the densely placed buildings.  Fast moving clouds, pink underbellies from city light, calm-before-storm kind of clouds - they're all painted above and overtop silhouettes of Dutch architecture.

This foreigner spent a lot of time looking up.

Jacques Brel - a Belgian folk singer from the 1960s wrote about the winds that change the skies in Belgium.


He sang in both French and Dutch - and the Dutch have adopted his version as a sort of anthem for their own wind and skies. 

 Jacques Brel's "Le plat pays qui est le mien" - in French

And the lyrics - which will break the heart if they can be understood

 

View over red rooftops - from my room.

  

Centre of Utrecht - Golden Hour

 

From up on high, you can see for ages

               The calf - Mascot of the Netherlands Film Festival - with sky.