Water-filled canals and a German LGB model train and trolley twist through the Miniature Dutch Village's illustration of the Netherlands. Peddlers, a wooden shoe maker and the flower cart vendor hawk their wares while boats bring cheese to the market in a replica of a typical Alkmaar, Netherlands scene. It's winter in the province of Friesland. Sinterklaas, accompanied by his helper Piets, arrives on his white horse the eve of December 5 and the day of December 6.
Shoppers scurry to buy traditional chocolate letters for their Sinterklaas celebrations.
Ice skaters glide on the frozen canal and children fly down a hill on a Friesian sled. Spring tulips, allium, daffodils and hyacinth bloom in the Keukenhoff Gardens. A costumed boy perched in a flowering tree peers down on the gardeners. The model train passes architecturally correct replicas of the Friesland Planetarium, cheese market and the old fortress Waterport at Sneek. Between the tombstones in the church cemetery sits a woman wearing a blue mourning costume.