This family holiday has centered around the former Zuiderzee (Southsea – as opposed to the Northsea) that was effectively dammed around 1930 and became Europe’s largest sweet-water lake. The ways of making a living changed drastically with the change from salt  to sweet water – they would have changed  anyway I think with the industrialisation of agriculture and fishery. What remains is nostalgia and a flourishing tourist trade.

Question: is Europe destined to become the open-air-museum of the future, visited by hordes of Chinese tourists wanting to see Rembrandt’s  the night watch and some wooden shoes thrown in for good measure?