Alkmaar Streets

As I'm watching the quarter finals of the World Cup 2010 between Brazil and the Netherlands, I thought it would be a good opportunity to post this picture. I'm not particularly a fan of both teams but hey... I've never been to Brazil yet!
This shot was taken in Alkmaar, a small town of 95000 inhabitants, famous for its cheese market. I had the opportunity to visit a few towns with 2 friends including of course Amsterdam, but I was not really impressed by them. I preferred the relaxing atmosphere and simplicity of Alkmaar with its clichéd windmills and canals.

[Edit]: Well, congratulations to Holland for kicking Brazil out of the World Cup 2010. Good job.

Alkmaar II

Another shot of Alkmaar in the Netherlands. I liked this little town for its quietness, nice streets and laid back lifestyle. The building you see at the end is not a church, but a Cheese museum!

In front of it is held the famous Alkmaar cheese market.

It was also a special day as it's quite rare to have a nice blue sky in a country where it rains all the time!

Enjoy!

Windmills

One of the icons of the Netherlands are windmills (along with tulips, cows, canals and red light district).

There are over a 1000 windmills all over the country and where built to power a complex system of pumps to keep the water levels under control. I also learned that mill keepers would position the blades of the windmill (when in resting position) to announce important news like a birth, a death or help

Some are open to the public for visit but I did not get the chance.

Where is Don Quijote when you need him?

Alkmaar - Netherlands

Alkmaar.. A beautiful little town north of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

I came to visit a friend (howdy Eva!) who lives here and we got the chance to walk around, along the "canals", the windmills, the small neighborhoods with their little gardens, the red light district at night (oh baby!) and all the little shops here and there.

A very lovely town where I could almost see myself living in!

Cheers!