By Suzan van Leigden

The beach is filled with people in summer.

After a cold winter, with a lot of rain and snow, the weather is finally getting better! Everyday the sun is shining. People are enjoying the weather a lot. Many of them take their bicycles and ride through the fields. There are special routes for bicycle recreation. There is a lot of countryside in Holland. People dont like to ride their bikes through the crowded cities.

　Although, when the weather is good, also the city is crowded. People come together when they have spare time, to drink a cold drink on the terrace. Many people are there, so it is cozy. When people finish work, they also go to terraces. But, different from Japan, they will have company of their friends, and sometimes family. Colleagues are not that close as in Japan. Sometimes, in the summer season, companies organize barbecues though.

On weekends, when people have a day off, and when the weather is good, they go to the beach. That’s why many Dutch women start a diet when the weather is getting better, because they want to look good in bikini. Watch out for jellyfish!

Dutch girls like horses. To ride a horse on the beach is really fun. But because the summer season just started, it is not allowed to ride a horse on the beach between 9.00am until 7.00pm.

Also many Germans come to Holland especially for the beach, because there is no beach in Germany. Some of them have their vacation house in Holland, some of them stay camping or drive home the same day.

Holland is a real ‘water country,’ so there are also many small boats for recreation. The owners of the boats start cleaning and renovating their boat when the weather is good. People also like to work in the garden, and often go to garden centers, where they buy plants and flowers to put in the garden.

Relaxing with the view of sheep in the meadow.

At the high schools examinations just began. After this, the scholars will get a holiday until September. Many of them will take a summer job. Other kids will also get their summer holidays soon, in July. When the parents can quit their jobs for a few weeks, many families go on holiday. Camping is very popular, because its a cheap way of going on holiday. In Holland and other countries, there are many camping-places. Some people stay in Holland to camp, or go to one of the Dutch islands in the North. But the most popular country for Dutch people is France. Because it is only a few hours by car, and its a nice environment and the weather is better than in Holland. France has been the most popular destination for years.

The colorful tulip fields are so famous all over the world.

There are also summer festivals especially for young people. Like Pink-pop, Dancevalley and Park-pop and Njoy. At these festivals, people stay a few days to dance and listen to the music of a lot of various, popular and famous musicians. At night they sleep in their tents, to go further partying the next day again.

In summer there are many tulips in some spaces of Holland. It’s beautiful to see the fields and many foreigners are coming to see the fields full of flowers. And at the fields, the Dutch landscape is usually filled with cows, horses and sheep. They all give birth about this time, so its really cute to see the young animals.　I wish you have a good summer time!