Vaarwel naar Nederland

We left the Netherlands on 16 September. There was a steady drizzle all morning. The closer we got to actually leaving the apartment, the more this matched how I felt.

The night before, Jannie had taken us out for dinner at the La Baraque restaurant. The monthly VW get together happens in the parking lot so we we had been there a couple of times before, but we had never been inside. Even Jannie said that it looks very industrial on the outside, but she promised that the inside was a very cozy and elegant restaurant. She was certainly right about that!

We all had a dish called "Stoofpotje" - stoofvlees, fijne boontjes en rösti of met aardappelblokjes of frites en salade (pot roast, fine beans and hash browns or with diced potatoes or fries and salad). That sounds pretty good, but comes nowhere close to doing it justice. Of course we were so busy visiting that I failed to take any pictures, so the best I have come up with is this recipe.

It makes my mouth water just to look at that! Not only was the beef incredibly tender, but the juice was just wonderfully rich (Okay, that's it - I'm getting on a plane and flying 12 hours for dinner as soon as I can. I'm sure tomorrow isn't too soon ;-) ).

Here are a few photos of our home in Zevenhuizen.

Some views out of the windows.

We had time to wander the back roads to make our way to Schiphol. We actually intended to take a route we'd previously driven, but missed a turn. It was fun to take a route that we had not traveled previously. Although there were long lines, getting through security was easy (love European airport security). By the time we were on the plane I was more ready to go than I thought I would be. At least we were flying KLM so we could keep the Dutch experience going for a few more hours. Unfortunately, the experience of going through U.S. security in Atlanta brought home the harsh reality that we were back in America.

It may be hard to imagine, but a trip of 3 weeks was far too short. As I've looked back through the photos I'm reminded of all the photos I didn't take and all the things that we didn't do. Well, as I've heard Rick Steves say, "Assume that you will return" - the more often I go, the more I'm determined to return.

Terp Villages

Every trip we make to the Netherlands, we discover someone new in our family heritage - often with a new-to-us village that we need to explore. This year it was Welsryp, where Rose Dykstra Buss (Linda's Great-Grandmother) was born. Because this is Friesland, the village is officially known as Wjelsryp. In many towns the sign will show both Fries and Dutch versions on the sign.

Wjelsryp is a "terp village" - a raised area of earth above the marshes and peat bogs. Early residents of this area piled up earth to create dry areas that they could live on. Eventually the mounds were large enough to form a village - and a church was one of the first buildings built. After many centuries the mound has almost disappeared, but you can still see it at the church - it's still the highest point in the town.

It's a challenge to show in a photograph that the land is raised, but here are a couple more attempts.

Here are a couple of other shots from around the village

After Wjelsryp, we moved a little east to Kollum where my Great-great Grandfather Sake Hendriks Riemersma was born in 1823.

It is harder to see the terp in Kollum because of how the town has been built up, but there is some sign in the slope around the church.

Walking around the cemetery and reading the markers is like revisiting the church directory from our youth. There are so many deVries's that it's doubtful that the upper photo is a relative. The lower photo was taken so we could remember the Bible verse "OPENB. 14:13". There are a lot of Dutch words that you can puzzle out because they look a lot like English - not this one. It's an abbreviation for Revelation 14:13.

This church was built starting in the twelfth century with the tower, then expanded in the 1800's. One of the clues about how old it is comes from the window in the tower. It shows just how thick the wall is, and it has a small Romanesque window - quite different from the large Gothic style windows in the newer sections.

This is the only Bok grave in the cemetery. Not a relative that we know of, but Kollum isn't very far from Burum where my Great-great Grandmother Korneliske Hendriks Bok was born.

Burum has a windmolen that is quite unusual. It's a grain grinding mill, but the only mill I have ever seen that has aluminum sails in place of the traditional wooden sails. I had no idea this existed when I was musing at Zandhaas about a modern version of the traditional mill.

We had experienced cloudy skies all day, and it began to rain while we were exploring the churchyard, but on the way home we ran into such heavy rain that we pulled off the highway for some supper and to let the storm move past us. I'm not sure I really captured it, but it was fun to see the raindrops falling against the sun.

Amsterdam, the Ultimate Garage Sale, and Pannenkoeken

Sunday, 13 September, was the day to head back to Amsterdam. We parked at the Park & Ride at Arena, then took the #54 metro to Amsterdam Centraal. Central Amsterdam is so compact that it's only a 15 minute walk to church at the Begijnhof.

Dam Square is quiet on Sunday Morning.

Church was at the English Reformed Church, located in the Begijnhof. It's always amazing to think of worshiping with a body of believers who have been using this building since 1607.

 The black structure is the oldest wooden building in Amsterdam, built in about 1420 and a survivor of the fires that were an early problem in the city.

When we were here for Easter 3 years ago someone kindly offered to take our photo at this spot. This year we went for a selphie.

 We passed this shop as we walked towards Amsterdam Centraal to catch the ferry. I had to take a picture!

The free ferries to North Amsterdam leave from the back side of Centraal - not nearly as pretty as this side.

The ferries are for pedestrians, bicyclists and scooters only (oh, and you can also bring on a very small Dutch 2 seater car).

The object of this journey across the River Ij was Ij-Hallen. A monthly flea market of about 750 booths that happens in a pair of amazing former industrial buildings.

I may have been more fascinated by the quirky building details than by what was for sale. We bought only one table knife that caught Linda's eye, but it was great fun to look at all the stuff. I kept surveying the tables of books for Harry Potter in Dutch. If we lived there it would have been a very dangerous place to visit!

I have no idea why this submarine is tied up in the harbor near Ij-Hallen, or who is paying the mooring fees to keep it there, but it seemed to fit with the funky experience of the flea market. (Okay, I cheated and looked it up here.)

The was a bubble party going on at the entrance to the to the metro.

No visit to the Netherlands is complete with out Pannenkoeken at Pannenkoekenhuys Oudt Leyden so that's where we headed for dinner. 

Leiden at night.