1.5month has quickly past since we started living in Friesland. Oh still 1.5 month. I was already feeling that we have been here for ages. As I started working at the same time we moved, we didn't have a chance to explore the neighborhood, because of the messy house. But the weather is getting better and better and I want to go somewhere and leave the house behind. right?
我々が住む町、Drachtenは住んでみればなかなか良いところだなぁと思います。でもオランダで言ういわゆる“かわいい”町ではないんですねぇ。比較的最近発展した町なので、あまり歴史がないんですって。Frieslandには結構たくさん（歴史のある）いわゆる“かわいい”町があるようですよ。
Drachten, where we live now, is quite a nice town when you are actually living there. But it is not a "CUTE" town in the sense of Dutch towns. It doesn't have much history because it is a relatively recently developed town. There are quite many places in Friesland that are actually "CUTE" (with history).
先週末、我々、魚購入の旅の帰りにFriedlandの“かわいい”町の一つに立ち寄ってきました。Dokkumというこの町、たまたま標識にあったのでドライブがてら寄っただけだったのですが、すごい素敵でした！
Last weekend, we dropped by one of the "CUTE" towns in Friesland after our fish buying trip. The name of the town is Dokkum. We really just dropped by, so there was no real objective to visit the town. But! It was really really nice!
車を駐車場に停めて（もちろん無料！）、街中へと歩きます。ここがだいたい町の入り口みたいな感じなのかな。すでに良い雰囲気が漂ってます。で、この橋の向こう側へ行くと・・・
We parked our car (of course free!) and walked into the town. This is more or less the entrance of the town center. It is already good atmosphere. When we walked over the bridge...
たくさんのチューリップがお出迎え！我々、ちょっとお店等々を見た後、お堀のように町を囲む運河に沿って散歩をしてみました。
Many tulips were welcoming us. We had a look at the shopping area and started walking along the moat around the town.
動いている風車です。オランダらしい！この日はちょうど何かのイベントをやっていたので、動かしていたみたいですね。
羽の先っぽにはオランダの国旗とFriesianの州旗が付けられていました。この風車の足元が運河に突き出しているのがわかりますか？こういう町では基本的に風車は町を取り巻く運河の角に設置されているんです。（風に一番当たりやすいですからね。）まさに典型的な“かわいい”町です。
There was an active windmill. Very Dutch. It was active because of a kind of event held on the day and there were Dutch and Friesian flags attached to the tips of the wings. You can see the base of the windmill is sticking out to the water. Windmills were set at the corner of the town center where they are surrounded by the moat. That is a typical example of "CUTE" town.
これは風車の反対側から撮った写真です。チューリップでいっぱい！Dokkum、チューリップの町、と言うのが観光のスローガンのようです。いろんな種類のチューリップが運河沿いに植えられていて、とってもキレイですよ。イベントやってたおにいちゃんによると、このチューリップ、初夏まで楽しめるそうな。
This is the picture from the back side of the windmill. A lot of Tulips! Dokkum claims the town is a tulip town. They planted many different kinds of tulips along the moat. It was so beautiful. According to the guy in the event, you can enjoy the tulips until early summer here.
こんな変わったお花もきれいに咲いていましたよー。
We saw many kinds of different flowers as well.
Dokkum、まさに“かわいい”町でした。結果的に私のFriesland観光に対する期待はうなぎ登り。Dropによると、Frieslandには11箇所の歴史的な街があるらしく、その中いままでに私が訪れたのはLeeuwardenとDokkumのみ。いつか全部行ってみたいなぁ・・・。
Dokkum, it was very "CUTE" town. As the result, my expectation of Friesland for sightseeing is rapidly going up. According to Drop, there are 11 historical cities in Friesland. So far I have only been to Leeuwarden and Dokkum. I would like to visit all of them someday.