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Smashing Stereotypes... NOT!
Dutch people wearing wooden shoes?! C'mon, that's just a stereoty... oh. Never mind. Howdy all! I hope everybody's doing good! It's been a hectic week here in Holland. A good week, but hectic. Most of my time here has been spent visiting family and friends, but Dad and I did manage to visit the town of Holten and walk around Deventer Centrum (City Center).
Visiting the family again is always fun. It's been 6 years since the last time I was in Holland, and it is my country of heritage, so I'm always stoked to go back. For those who don't know, only my mom, dad, brother, and recently my cousin Roy live in Canada - everybody else is in Holland. I have something like 16 or 17 aunts and uncles here, so I have a lot of people to see. Each side of the family had a little get-together, and that worked out great. It's always fun to see how everyone's changed, especially my younger cousins. Some of them were barely out of the womb the last time I saw them!
I also managed to see my good friend Ilona here. I met her about 7 years ago, and we've somehow managed to see each other once every couple of
Holten Canadian War Cemetary
This is a gravesite in Holland dedicated to Canadian soldiers who died in WWII. Canadians played a big part of freeing Holland from Nazi Germany. years. Also in the friend mix here is Chris, Simone, and Gerwin. Chris is Ilona's boyfriend (who knocked her up a few months back - suckers!), Simone is Ilona's sister, and Gerwin is Simone's husband.
Ilona and Chris recently bought a house and were in the midst of moving into and renovating it when I stopped by. Bad timing on my part: they put me to work right away, helping them move some stuff from their old place in Nijmegen. Afterwards, we went out with Simone and Gerwin to paint the town red. Well actually, more of a golden-beer colour anyway (except the pregnant one, of course!).
The next morning my shift continued as I was put to work painting some stair-rails. Bastards! The jokes on them though - I can't paint for shit! Afterwards, I went with Ilona to Nijverdal to visit her parents, then headed back to meet Dad in Deventer (where we're staying).
Deventer's a great city. You probably won't find it in a
Lonely Planet anytime soon, as with almost any place in eastern Holland, but I feel it has a lot of character. It's one of the older cities in Holland and
Girls... Yuk!
At least they are when their husbands are around! is great to walk around. Dad and I putzed around the city center (which will be henceforth referred to as
centrums) for awhile, and went for a bite to eat. Centrums in Europe are so cool! There's no cars allowed there and all the cafe's have quaint little tables set up outside, so you can actually enjoy your dinner on a patio without having to hear cars rip past the restaurant! Ahh, life is good!
Another place Dad and I went to was the town of Holten. Holten is most famous for it's Canadian war cemetary, built in honour of Canadian soldiers who died defending Holland from Nazi Germany. It is kept in immaculate condition, and according to one visitor we met there, the land it is on is considered Canadian soil. There are gravesites like this around Europe, and for many different nationalities - including Germany.
You know, some people hate going to places like this, but I love it. I love the respect shown to those who died during WWII, and the fact that it helps put the ramifacations of this war in perspective. The war was over 60 years ago and the damaged cities have
Deventer Centrum
Ahhh, a nice, peaceful city center - that's what I'm talkin' about! been rebuilt, so the only way to really understand, appreciate, and learn from what happened back then is through historic sites like this.
Anyway, tomorrow I'm off to Amsterdam. Gonna make sure Dad makes it on the plane alright and scope out cheap flights around Europe. Berlin's still an option, but I may be going somewhere completely different - it depends wholly on what kind of deal I find.
Later people!
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Charles McGill
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last Blog
Great. I just did my last Blog. Just got HOME!!! to great temp. All the Best http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/British-Columbia/Sunshine-Coast/blog-161066.html