Dutch curiosities

Firstly, the staircases in Dutch houses.  Because of the narrowness of the houses, which are almost always at least two storeys high, the stairs are very very narrow.

The narrowness of the houses is due of course to the scarcity of land and the pressure of a large population.  Houses need to take up a small land area and reach upwards.   I always walk down sideways, never straight on - as Andrew is demonstrating above.  Nevertheless, it still feels as if I take my life in my hands and frankly, I would be afraid of being an old person living in such a house where the bedrooms are upstairs.

Many shops, including supermarkets, have a free gift wrapping service.  Above left are my nicely wrapped chocolates from the chemist shop and on the right, Sieska is about to wrap the strawberries at Albert Heijn one of the largest supermarket chains throughout Holland.  There is also Aldi and Lidl, the two competing chains.  Taking flowers as gifts is still the most customary habit in this country.

Coffee and tea are provided free of charge in many supermarkets and the trolleys have a special cup holder similar to the cup holders cars we in Australia are more used to.  Milk, hot water and sugar are also provided.