Holland - David Roth

We planned a trip to Italy, we got so darned excited

We bought a bunch of guidebooks and we learned a phrase or two

We packed our bags and off we went, directly for the airport

As prepared as we could be for something altogether new

We’d mapped out all the prime locations, Rome, Milan, and Florence

We connected with our agent about nine months in advance

We knew this trip would change our lives

We went to classes, husbands, wives

We didn’t want to leave one thing to chance

But when we landed we were in Holland

Italy is what we had in mind

This was not what we’d come all this way to find

We couldn’t change it, we got our baggage

And we began a trip we never in a million years

Could have imagined

We got our footing quickly though, there wasn’t time to take things slow

We got some brand new guidebooks and we learned a whole new language

We met people who we never knew, existing here in Holland

Reluctant as we were with all these unexpected changes

Nowadays we still see everybody all around us

Busy coming and going off to Italy as planned

They’re all bragging what a great time

And they pass around their pictures

We smile and say, «Your trip sounds very grand»

And when we’re honest, we’re exhausted

As we walk the streets of now-familiar towns

A different dream is what we’ve landed here and found

But we have tulips, we have Rembrandts

And we remember that not everyone will know

Such different kinds of beauty