My mother has been inspired to write a post about her journey in Europe. A first time writer, she decided to use my blog as a platform so she can share her story with her friends. This post is in Chinese, translated to English by me (sorry it’s not perfect, translation is not my forte!).
Touring Europe – Netherlands and Belgium
媽媽寫:
Mum writes:
由澳洲飛台北停留1個月過農曆年，再飛荷蘭坐河船。在荷蘭做了市區小遊船，參觀的風車發源地，看了風車內部構造，荷蘭有名的大木屐，荷蘭美麗的小鎮等。比利時到處都有宏偉的教堂，小鎮裡的小巷中均為石板路，兩旁的房子都是相當傳統的古歐式建築.
From Australia we flew to Taipei for a month to celebrate Chinese New Year. Then, we flew to the Netherlands for our river cruise. In the Netherlands, we took river boats on the canals, visited the home of the windmills and saw how they worked, there were also clogs and beautiful townships. In Belgium, there were grand churches everywhere, small towns had streets lined with cobble stones and traditional, old European houses on both sides of the road.
荷蘭的土地很多是填海產生的，土地比海平面還低．所以很多很多地名都教什麼丹，如果阿姆斯特丹，鹿特丹，丹就是Dam,水壩的意思. 他們的水壩工程做得令人稱羨，㘬為百年左右了，他們又做風車將水打出海中以免水患．
A lot of land in the Netherlands have been reclaimed from the sea and are lower than sea level. Many of its cities by the coast are named after ‘Dams’, such as AmsterDAM, RotterDAM as dams are important in the Netherlands to avoid floods for hundreds of years. The windmills are also used to pump water back into the sea.
風車現在已多使不用了，只用於觀光. 現在有些風車內部人有人居住，內部的擺設令人感覺進入的蒙古包，可以說麻雀雖小五臟俱全.
Windmills are not really used any more, mostly for tourism. Some of the windmills are inhabited and their interiors like mini castles, and are equipped with facilities required to live.
荷蘭小鎮小而美的建築,街道兩旁皆有些小的 Cafe,小桌小椅加上小傘放在小街道旁非常美麗．我有時間時會坐下來喝杯咖啡相當有情調.
Towns in the Netherlands are filled with small houses and cafe lined streets, which then places their tables and chairs along the walls which is perfect for me to sit and while away the day with a cup of coffee.
荷蘭的年一度的鬱金香展正好是逢時期，人山人海但因場地廣闊還可以欣賞的很悠閒，許多鬱金香的顏色在別國也有看見但都以為是染色的，今天一間才知道是真的，太美了.真的捨不得走了．如果真的想好好欣賞全園區，可能要一兩天才能完成，只好依依不捨地離開，如果有機會我會再來.
The annual Tulip festival was on when we were in the Netherlands, it was extremely crowded but there were still plenty of space to move around and admire the flowers leisurely. The tulips here have colours I’ve never seen and at first I thought they were painted! It was so beautiful I never wanted to leave the park. I think, if I really wanted to explore every part of the park I’ll need about two days. If there is an opportunity, I’ll return again.
大木屐是荷蘭的傳統手工藝，記得坐河船的最後一天我們看到傳統的荷蘭舞，他們穿著荷蘭的傳統大木屐跳舞非常傳統又好看．
Another specialty of the Netherlands is the traditional wooden clog. On our last day on the river cruise a dancing troop danced their traditional dance wearing these clogs. The performance was fantastic.
荷蘭讓我的感覺為美麗乾淨，尤其是小鎮裡每家的屋子充邊都擺了不同的盆景和裝飾，小屋的外觀看起來真像卡通片中的情景，在荷蘭的古代皇宮內看到真正的孔雀開屏就在我身邊.
I feel the Netherlands is clean and beautiful, especially so in towns where houses are decorated with a variety of flower pots and ornaments. Appearance of the houses and surrounds are like those in cartoons and at an ancient palace even a peacock came and stood beside me as if in a fairytale.
坐河船我們也有到比利時. 比利時的鬆餅較一般的脆，他們的薯條也比較特殊是炸過兩次還沾美奶滋吃，吃鬆餅配薯條是比利時的特色，還有巧克力也是比利時的驕傲,你可以看到在比利時滿街都是巧克力店.
The cruise also took us to Belgium. The waffles in Belgium were crispy and their famous fries were also quite special. The fries are fried twice for crispiness and served with mayonnaise, both these snacks are specialties of Belgium. Of course, there’s chocolate, which is the pride of Belgium, you are pretty much find chocolate shops everywhere.
荷蘭和比利時都盛行腳踏車，大輪子高架的腳踏車在街上奔馳，很多的腳踏車後面還拖了個可愛的娃娃車。
Cycling is popular in both the Netherlands and Belgium, where bicycles are used everywhere on the road, many by parents towing cute wagons for their children along the way.
荷蘭和比利時的街道很多是小石板鋪成的，高低不平走起來很困難，對我這個殘障人士更是很大的障礙，幸虧我有位好先生一路扶持照顧我，我真的很感謝他.
Many of the streets in the Netherlands and Belgium are lined with cobble stones and pebbles, and their uneven surface made it difficult to walk on, especially for someone disabled like me. Fortunately my husband have been beside me, helping and caring for me, I am very much grateful for him.
A day trip to Hampton Court
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