Getting in touch with my Dutch heritage

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Well seems like yonks ago now but after waffles in Brugge it was on to Amsterdam. And boy was it HOT! Stayed in the dodgiest hostel in Amsterdam, which actually wouldnt have been too bad if it wasnt 37 degrees during the day. The problem was there were railings on the windows and hence they only opened about 2 cms. And hence the room was like a sauna. I was bathed in sweat and seriously considered getting my pillow and sheets and sleeping in the park. It was rank.
Apart from that though Amsterdam was a truly interesting city. It is filled with canals and crooked buildings that look like the only thing preventing them from falling over is the fact that there are two building right next to them holding them up! Dodgy water filled foundations no doubt. We did the usual walk through the red light district that while eye opening, i thought was rather tame. Fortunately I was with Ash, who is but eighteen and she provided a few laughs....("Oh my god, what is she wearing!!") There were absolutely masses of bikes everywhere. Crossing the road was a scary experience at times not only having to look out for cars, but crazy bike riders (i don't think their bikes have brakes) , trams, trucks, scooters etc..etc.. Juxtaposed (love that word) with all this activity was a lovely park where after the sleepless night before i went and had a nap in, also waiting for cousin Sam and his fiance Ann to come in from London. That afternoon we went to the Heineken Museum which was really good fun...we made a very embarrassing karoke (in dutch of course) video of ourselves, where much to our disgust the only word we knew was 'Amsterdam' ! And of course we sampled the very cold Heineken and i bought myself a pair of thongs, just in case the replacement ones broke. Couldn't take the chance of being thongless again! NO!
That night i decided it would be better to be out and about rather than in the sauna box so me and my new friend Georgia from Darwin, went on a pub crawl, while Sam and Ann went on a cruise through the canals. Probably a better idea as i got about 3 hours sleep that night and the next day it was a full day of sightseeing.
We went to see some of the work of the grand masters of Dutch art, including Rembrandt and Van Gogh, which was still fantastic even though i was struggling! Also went to the erotic museum which was a laugh!
That evening, Sam, Ann and I jumped on a train Haarlem only about 30 minutes away where we met up with Joop and Annet, my great uncle and aunt. There we stayed with Mark and Irene. Mark is Joop's son and mums cousin. We had a lovely relaxing dinner and then I passed out from exhaustion!
The next day we set off for the north of the Netherlands where the Boumas (mums family) are from. On the way we passed through small little villages such as De Rijp, Krommenie and Grootschermer with traditional dutch architecture, and some windmills of course. We also stopped at a cheese farm, where they actually wore real wooden clogs around. We saw some of the techniques for making that yummy dutch Gouda and we then purchased some to consume later. If you are wondering why some people call The Netherlands Holland, apparently it is because Amsterdam is located in the province of Holland and so some people started calling the whole country Holland and I guess the trend caught on! So never call it Holland to a dutch person! Another interesting fact is that something like 40% of The Netherlands is below sea level. The many dykes prevent the country from being washed away. At the moment they are having a bit of a dry spell and there are fears that some of the dykes may dry out and crack! mmm where's that little boy and his thumb when you need him, eh? We went to a place called Holwerd where they are actually slowly reclaiming the land from the sea using silt traps. This has been going on for years and on some of this reclaimed land houses and roads have been built! Fascinating stuff. Here also you can get a ferry to the island of Ameland where my great (great?) grandfather worked as a teacher.
Anyway, back to the road trip where we went through other towns such as Ferwerd, Zuidhorn where my grandmother grew up, Enumatil, a bridge where the van Til name (grandmothers maiden name) orginally came from! amazing! We also passed through Groningen a town which is part of Friesland, where they actually have their own language. And where Friesland cows come from too. That night we stayed with Ite and Marjolein, another of Joops son and his partner. They were wonderfully hospitable and we had a lovely evening. We stayed in a cool old caravan which was lots of fun as well. And they had an awesome dog who i played with for a while. I miss you Mags!
The next day we went to see some of Mums aunts and uncles. We had lunch with Oom Wim and Tante Rini and Tante Rie. We also met another of Joops sons, another Wim! It was very special to see Oom Wim and Tante Rini again, and to meet Tante Rie, and we really enjoyed ourselves. After that it was back to Sittard, way down south. When I say way i mean a couple of hours. The Netherlands is a very small country! On the way we passed through Waginingen where my grandparents lived and mum was also born in a hospital near there. It is worth noting that through this tour I was reading my grandfathers memoirs which greatly increased the meaning and history of each of the places for me, so thankyou Opa. All I can say is I should have read it sooner!
From Sittard we did a day trip to s'hertogenbosch to see the most magnificent cathedral in The Netherlands. Ann and I also had a disastrous shopping trip into Sittard. When I say disastrous i mean I spent lots of money. Went into the best jewellry shop ive ever been to. Really nice, interesting stuff and relatively cheap! It was all over as soon as I walked in. To reiterate what Sam said in his blog, everyone has been so nice and welcoming it was just wonderful. Thankyou to everyone who made our stay such a brilliant one, especially Joop and Annet for guiding us through The Netherlands and showing us such generosity. For me this has been the most special part of my Europe trip.

Some of the places we went to:


Amsterdam
Haarlem - Mark, Irena and Robert. Son of Joop.
Krommenie
West Graftdijk
De Rijp - village
Grootschermer
Schermerhorn
Oudendijk - kassboer - cheese farm
Avenhorn
De Weere


Ferwerd - Bouma Family
Holwerd - Ferry to ameland
Zuidhorn - Van Til family
Enumatil - bridge where name came from
Hoogkerk -
Groningen - van Til Dooyes
Oostwold () Ite/Marjolein Stefan Ruben. Son of Joop
Otterlo Eale - Wim, Rinny, Rie, Wim(junior)
Waginingen
s- hertogenbosch - cathedral
Eindhoven
Maastricht
Sittard - Joop and Annet

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Photos

An evening in Joop and Annets garden
Im there, I look like a ghost!