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MAR 3 1953
Dutch Rush Flood Repairs
Few Vacationlands Touched
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By S. L. Daniels
Special Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
The Hague
Holland is tidying up flood
damage in tourist centers and
I hopes that the recent disaster will
not interfere with what is gen
erally expected to be a banner
year for international travel.
The places usually visited by
touristsAmsterdam, The Hague,
and the bulb district between
themwere untouched by the
flood. The first sweep of water
caused some superficial damage
in Rotterdam and Dordrecht, but
the traveler after April will have
to ask local residents where it
washe will not be likely to
find it.
The storm on the night of Jan.
31 and Feb. 1 which accompanied
the flood also washed over the
boulevards of North Sea resorts,
such as Scheveningen, Noord-
wi.ik, and Zandvoort, damaging
mainly roads and breakwaters.
Here, too, it is expected, repairs
will be completed within a few
weeks.
Quick Repairs Expected
on Coronation Day in a one-hour
special flight, and be back at their
Dutch hotels by evening. Over
seas travelers flying KLM will
have this extra trip thrown in
free.
The Dutch tourist trade is hop
ing that the Coronation visitor
will take time either before or
after the event to see a bit of
Holland.
Flower Show Resumed
A special attraction this year
is the Fourth Flora Interna
tional Flower Exhibition at
Heemstede, near Haarlem, from
March 14 to May 14, which is
expected to draw a million vis
itors, making it easily the
world's greatest flower show. It
was supposed to have been held
every decade, but two wars dis
rupted this plan. Now it is get
ting back into stride for the
first time since World War II,
and the decennial cycle will be
resumed in 1965.
Another flower event, but this
Where the flood mainly struck onfannual, is the Keukenhof
-the islands off the southwest exhibition, showing more than
coast and strips of the adjoining 10,000,000 bulb flowers m nat-
mainlandtourists rarely go. But "ral settings on the lath-cen-
a visit to these areas may be in tTlu'yT estate of the Countess
order this year for the visitor Jacoba of Bavaria. This runs
who wants to see something other i approximately from mid-March,
than the usual attractions. depending on when the bulbs
By this summer the dikes will kreak into bloom, until about
have been repaired and the water i mid-May. Along with it will be
drained away from most of the j §ay flower processions and the
islands, and the tourist who visits
them, if only for a few hours, will
be able to take home a story that
no American here in recent years
was able to tellthe dramatic
saga of reconstruction of these
drowned farmlands.
Coronation Tour Bid
In this air age, Holland is prac
tically in Britain's back yard. To
emphasize this the Royal Dutch
Airlines. KLM, has taken options
on hundreds of hotel rooms where
overseas visitors can stay if they
find London too crowded and
still wish to see the Coronation.
The idea is that they can fly to
Amsterdam before the great
event, be shuttled over to London
Fifth International Tulip Motor
car Rally, starting April 25.
Van Gogh Centenary
A special event this year is
the centenary of the birth of
Vincent Van Gogh the Dutch
painter. To mark this date, the
largest exhibition of his paint
ings ever assembledmany from
private collections is being
brought together and will be
shown successively between
March 30. the actual anniver
sary, and Sept. 21 in The
Hague's Municipal Museum, the
Kroeller-Mueller Museum in the
center of the Veluwe National
Park and Amsterdam's Munici
pal Museum.
Those coming here after the
Coronation will be just in time
for the Holland Festival, June 15
to July 15, .which this time also
will make a bow to Van Gogh
by emphasizing works of his
timethe second half of the
119th century. Participating in
the festival will be the Amster
dam Concertgebouw Orchestra,
the Hague Residence Orchestra,
the Netherlands Opera Company,
the Stuttgart, Germany, Cham
ber Orchestra, and the Grand
Ballet of Marquis de Cuevas.
