ZAANDAM

At Zaandam I sat face-to-face with a windmill in its favorite weather. Mightily it wound in the wet, billowing wind - a monument of wood and ingenuity, milling its role into the souvenir image of Holland. Alongside tulips and clogs, the windmill has become a staple symbol of the tourist industry; yet no kitsch magnet, shot glass, carving, or even painting, photograph or video, will ever convey the awe-commanding presence of a real windmill milling in the wind.

This was our first day out in real Dutch weather - the stuff we've been too "lucky" to miss, the kind the Dutch loathe and apologize for, the kind that dampens jeans and breaks umbrellas. This is also the kind that makes the sky grey, greens deep, everything wet and lustrous. It makes people huddle, stay inside, run for cover. "It always rains" in the Netherlands and it's about time! Zaandam was especially beautiful in bad weather. Sunny brochures rob the town of its grim and enthralling reality. The Zaans Museum's best feature was its viewing window from which you could stare into the damp landscape outside. Inside was an unusual collection of yesterday's everyday objects, sharing the history of Zaans' people, prosperity and industry.

AMSTERDAM-NOORD

If you build it, they will come. As an up-and-coming artists' colony, with hip and growing venues as well as a landmark to-rival-Sydney's-Opera under construction, North Amsterdam - no longer just the gallows - will soon lay its claim to a modest share of the city's sweltering tourism. And Jan Donkers was there to show us around, tell us all about, and kick off our last night in the city with a first round of drinks. In the rain we ran for the ferry.