Flat Hal and Flat Stanley decided to stay on the ship instead of going ashore in IJmuiden. Flat Hal’s friend Flat Jay was scheduled to board the ship, joining in the fun for the rest of the cruise, and we wanted to be on hand to greet him, and help him explore the ship.
After spending 100 days aboard Volendam the flat fellas hoped to share some tips and tricks on how to have the most fun possible during Flat Jay’s segment of the journey, the remaining 33 days.
Many of the passengers went to Amsterdam, others went to a closer city… all of them came back with stories of how The Netherlands was celebrating the national holiday Liberation Day.
IJmuiden is in North Holland, one of the provinces in The Netherlands. Interestingly, while the country is officially called The Netherlands, it’s very common to hear people refer to it as ‘Holland.’ This name originally came from two of its most prominent provinces, North and South Holland. (Additionally, the people are known as Dutch because they speak Dutch!)