This is what comes to mind for most people when they think of the Netherlands. And they would, of course, be right. There are plenty of clogs, tulips and windmills here. Even today, people can be found working in their gardens or on their farms wearing clogs. And the typical Dutch vista of flat meadows dissected by canals, with cows chewing the grass and in the distance a church spire and a windmill can still be seen.
Tradition remains evident in the Netherlands.
There are picturesque historic cities, their centres criss-crossed with canals and lined with the stately gentlemen's houses of past centuries. The fight against the sea, in a small country where half the land is below sea level, goes on and dykes and canals are everywhere. People still go skating along the frozen canals in winter very much as they did in the winter scenes painted by the old Dutch masters. And the tolerance of different religious and political viewpoints has held sway over the centuries. However, the Netherlands is also every bit a modern, industrial nation.