Many of you may know this about me and some of you may not, but visiting Holland has been a lifelong dream for me. You see, my Grandmother was a war bride who married a Canadian soldier around the end of the second World War. I have always been terribly interested in and proud of my Dutch heritage, so it is surprising that it took me so long to get there.
I finally boarded the plane to Holland last October. I wasn't sure what to expect when I got there but I certainly wasn't disappointed by anything. My uncle greeted me with Oliebollen (my favorite Dutch treat) and a great big hug.
In the afternoon, we took a walk and visited a Korenmolen or corn mill. He explained to the staff there that I was visiting from Canada and had never seen the working insides of a windmill and could someone give me a quick tour. A very nice man with long blonde hair had the honour of showing me the inner workings and even took me outside near the windmill blades and explained how many years ago the windmill was not only used as a mill but also as a form of communication to announce births, deaths, sickness, invasion, and weddings, to nearby farms and towns, depending on the position of the blades.
After the windmill we went into the old center of Alkmaar to see the canals and some of the small businesses. My uncle also sweet talked a young glazier into showing me his work shop and explaining what he does when he's making stained glass window designs. I have to say that was pretty cool too.
On my second day, we took the train to Amsterdam. We took a canal cruise so that I got to see a lot of the sights I might otherwise not know about or get to see. It was very interesting and I made sure to take lots of photos.
When we disembarked the canal tour, we saw a film crew. My uncle, being very inquisitive, decided to talk to the production assistant to see what they were shooting. It turned out to be an episode of Covert Affairs staring Piper Perabo. When I looked at the actors on the set, I noticed that it was an episode with Oded Fehr. OMG!! (For those of you who do not know who he is - he played the Guardian Ardeth Bay in the Mummy and also the real gigolo in Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo) I was pretty stoked about this sighting as I haven't had too many celeb sightings in Doha or in Canada for that matter.
Another huge highlight of the day and my trip in general, was visiting the site where my grandparents met. It used to be a social establishment called Finse Bar but now it is an Italian restaurant. We were able to go inside and have a look around even though it was closed. I tried to imagine what it looked like all those years ago and envision how it happened as I don't think I was ever told the story of how they met. Only that he didn't speak Dutch and she didn't speak English...How they ended up married...is anyone's guess, but I am sure glad they did!
We continued to stroll around Amsterdam seeing the sites - coffeeshops, Red Light District, Rembrandthuis, and stopped for coffee in a cafe on the Rembrandtplatz. What a busy day that was!
I took a bus tour out of Amsterdam called "Holland in One Day". All of my relatives laughed at me when I told them about this. They said..."You can't see all of Holland in one day!". And that is true, because we only did a very small area but it included some highlights. We started on Damrak near the train station and sights were pointed out along the way out of the city, including a new area of the city that we very recently reclaimed from the sea. You have to travel across a bridge called the "Dolly Parton bridge" to get there. The shape of the bridge is like two of Dolly's more apparent assets...lol.
On we went to Rotterdam where drove through the city to see some of the sights, including the cube houses. Then we climbed the Euromast tower. Being afraid of heights, this type of thing tends to be out of my comfort zone, but I decided I must try to overcome this fear so I climbed all the way to the top. What an amazing view of the city. Next we continued onto Delft (pronounced Del-eft) , where we toured the De Delftse Pauw pottery factory to see how they make the beautiful blue and white pottery. It is a really cool process. They also now do coloured pottery as well as the blue and white. Then of course it is into the store to see if you want to buy some things. After that we were turned loose in the old city center to do our own sightseeing, shopping and lunch.
After Delft, it was back on the bus to see Den Haag and Madurodam. We drove past the International Court of Justice and stopped at the Peace Palace for some pictures. I find it so interesting to drive past and tour places that usually you only read about in the news or see on tv.
Madurodam, for those of you who don't know what this is, is a theme park of miniatures. All of the main sights of Holland recreated by George Maduro in 1:25 scale. You can see Schipol airport with people inside and planes changing position outside. Training running along the track. There are even some games for children to play along the way. After an hour here it was time to head back to Amsterdam.
My next excursion was the main reason for my visit Holland. Meeting the family! For many years, I have heard my grandmother talk about the relatives we had in Holland and who was the child of whom. But over the years I had only met a handful of them who had come to Canada to visit us. We spent the day visiting cousins and their spouses and children in Almere and Lelystad. At the end of the day we arrived at one cousin's house where almost all the others had gathered for a asian take away meal and a game of Shuffleboard (it has a Dutch name but I can't spell it and google translate isn't being any help). It was highly competitive for sure! I was very thankful for the gifts presented to me especially some old family photos that I didn't have and family history information dating back to the 1700's. It was truly a memorable visit for me.
The next day was spent touring a replica of a 17th century ship called the Batavia, which was owned by the Dutch East India Company (VOC). The Batavia suffered a shipwreck and mutiny on its maiden voyage. We had a 3 hour tour from bow to stern and lots of history about the ill-fated maiden voyage of the Batavia. We had an excellent guide named Mariah who told us all about the ship and it's voyage and subsequent mutiny. It was interesting to see the ship and imagine how the sailors survived in the space given - 'cause there certainly wasn't a lot of space for as many people.
After all that and it's still only Sunday.
Monday dawned overcast and misty...but not too cold. I headed into Amsterdam to visit the Anne Frank house and the Rijksmuseum. By the time I walked from Centraal Station to Anne Frank house, the rain had started in earnest.
The Anne Frank House was very crowded. The annex where Anne and 7 other people lived, was jammed with people looking at all of the pictures and artefacts and, like me, trying to imagine living in such a small place with several strangers and very few opportunities to go outside for almost 4 years.
After touring the Anne Frank House, it took me an hour to walk to the Rijksmuseum. Next time I will find a local transit map! I was definitely soaked through to the bone because of the rain. The Rijksmuseum is filled with beautiful paintings by Vermeer, Rembrandt, and many other famous Dutch masters. Aside from beautiful paintings there are dollhouses built to scale from the 18th century, other artwork and historic items. This is truly a must see in Amsterdam.
Unfortunately after spending a couple of hours in Rijksmuseum, I ran out of time to take the Heineken Brewery tour. Guess I will have to make that top of the list for next time.
My next adventure took my uncle and I to Volendam and Edam on a misty morning. Volendam is a quaint little seaside village known for its old fishing boats and traditional Dutch costumes that some of the residents wear. It seems to be a tradition among my Canadian family to have a photo done in traditional dress, so of course I did this while I was there.
After visiting a small hotel/cafe in Volendam we headed for the nearby town of Edam (like the cheese) and walked all over the town. We stopped in a cheese shop and I tasted some really sharp beemster cheese. YUM!
My last few days in Holland were pretty low key. I had 2 days where I just relaxed at home, two dinners out, one with my uncle, his friend and a lady who had lived in Canada for a few years and one with my cousin and his family. Both dinners were quite enjoyable with tasty food and good (English) conversation but I was especially happy to meet my cousin and his family as my grandmother spoke about him often and very fondly.
I look forward to my next visit to Holland - whenever that will be so that I can do all the things I didn't get to do and to spend more time getting to know my family. Proost!
