A few random points.
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[li]Language[/li]Your target area has two basic languages: French and Dutch. Roughly speaking, anything south of Brussel speaks French, north speaks Dutch. (And yes, that little triangle of France around Dunkerque speaks a Dutch dialect.) Around Brussel people are generally bilingual. If you were to visit that quaint little village, chances are nobody’s interested in your native language. If you don’t speak French or Dutch (I would be most surprised if you speak Dutch) you’ll need a phrase book (per language of course). The further north you travel from Brussel, the less and less French people will speak. Around Antwerpen it’s all Dutch. From that point on the younger generation will speak English in varying degrees of incorrectness. Touristy places will generally have an anglophone around, but don’t count on it, especially south of Brussel.
[li]Transportation[/li]If you want to travel to Amsterdam from Calais, train is a good mode of transportation. There’s a Calais-Brussels train, and from Brussels there’s a fast train to Amsterdam. Between Brussel and Amsterdam you’ll pass Antwerpen, Rotterdam and Den Haag. Please note: Calais-Amsterdam will take at least FIVE TO SIX HOURS each way. As you guessed, only largers towns have train connections. Renting a car might be a good option for going outside the touristy places. (The breweries in Belgium will most likely not be around train stations.) You might want to check with a rental agency in advance for an automatic transmission. Most cars around here have manual stick shifts.
[li]Roads & Driving[/li]Compared to the average American, we (Europeans) drive like maniacs. Around the larger cities (Brussel, Antwerpen, Gent, Rotterdam, Den Haag, Amsterdam) it’s a zoo. Be prepared. Also, the main road from Calais to Belgium (the A16/E40 to Oostende/Brussel) is one big traffic jam in the summer. It’s the main coastal highway, and if the weather is particularly good it turns into one big car park.
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Now, some things to see. You don’t want tourist traps, so we’ll scratch tulip fields, cheese markets, clog factories (if they even exist) and coffee (ie. hash) shops. Windmills? Maybe a little touristy, but if you’re interested in how the Dutch manage to keep their feet dry while living up (down) to 22 feet below sea level, you might want to visit Kinderdijk. It’s a little village where there’s a row of still operational and functioning 17th century windmills. One of the windmills is open for visitors. Fairly touristic, but only that one windmill has an entrance fee. Also pretty crowded during summer I hear (parking problems).
In 1953 (February 1st IIRC) a national disaster was declared when most of the province of Zeeland flooded during dike breaks (big-ass storm). For this the Deltawerken (Delta Works) have been created. An extensive system of dikes and dams and whatnot to prevent such a thing from ever happening again. The artifical island Neeltje Jans is now a museum. Tours, in summer a boat tour, possibility of walking inside the dam. (Okay, the Hoover Dam it ain’t, but this one’s ecologically sound. Ish.)
In the part of France you’ll be in, and just across the border in Belgium, you’ll find a lot of World War One memorials. These are not exactly uplifting things to see, but when I saw them it left a big impression on me. It is unbelievable how many people have died for, and on, some muddy piece of land.
The system of canals you’re referring to might be the water housekeeping system for the polders in that area. Should you visit Kinderdijk you’ll learn more about polders than you might want to.
The big problem is of course that I can’t see the forest for the trees. Anything you might think different or interesting, I take for granted. You could check out the Dutch Tourist Board site for things typical. You could also try the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their info, but this will be mainly cultural information, not places to visit.
We could do this the other way around: you name a region (preferably Dutch or vicinity of Antwerpen), and I’ll see what I can find out for you.
I’m sorry for not supplying any proper links, but my browser is acting up again. Maybe it’s time to buy (!) another (!!) browser. Anybody got the Straight Dope[sup]TM[/sup] on RISC OS browsers?