The view from on high - the Church at Ransdorp

On Saturday, Frank took me on a day trip out into the countryside. The first stop was the church tower in Ransdorp (built in the 1500s) so we could see the view. As you can see, the Netherlands is completely flat so if you want to see a view, you've got to climb a tall building, which typically are church towers.

This one was very steep. It had a tight, circular staircase with no rail. You had to hold on to the rope and hope that you could hang on if you lost your footing until you could regain it. Luckily, I didn't fall!

I took photographs in all directions, both from the first "platform" about halfway up and then from the very top of the tower. You could see all the way to the eastern shore of the country in one direction to the towers in Amsterdam in the other.

You can really see why the cheese is so fantastic here. Green pastures and cows in all directions. The Netherlands is land reclaimed from the sea (it is built on a delta like New Orleans) so it is very fertile.