MARCH – JUNE 2004
PART 2
INDEPENDENT TRAVEL BY SENIORS DRIVING EUROPE
To read Part 3 of the Diary and more photos Click Part 3 page.
Today I return to the village where I left from to migrate in 1955 (49 years ago) and I decide it is time I drive the car. Denise has been driving valiantly since Paris. So I get in and drive the Renault for the first time, out of Ijmuiden and onto the highway towards Heiloo. We take an exit onto a minor road and after 5km there is a sign that the road is closed and we have to go back to the highway!
We turn around. drive back 5 km and take the highway again and leave at the following exit and then drive to Castricum aan Zee, Limmen, Egmond aan Zee and along the way see huge tulip fields – unbelievable - just along the road everywhere all this colour! Then to Heiloo and find Het Caendorp Bungalow Park where we have booked for a week. Temp about 14C. After booking in about 12 noon and unpacking, we drive to cousin Coby and husband Wim and find their lovely house. We chat and have coffee and she has arranged for me to see three of my Aunts all together in the afternoon. She drives us to see Tante Gre, Jo and Bep – it’s Bep’s birthday. They are all sisters of my mother and together for afternoon tea. So we have a pleasant afternoon talking about family and my mother and I have a great time.
About 4pm Coby takes us to Zandvoort where a second-cousin of mine, Marianne, is having a birthday party in a local hall. We meet many, many other cousins there and I have a busy time talking to them all in Dutch. Denise is having a worse time and goes for a walk to the seaside nearby. Later in the evening Rob and Ada show us their house and then we go for a walk on the beach. Then back to Heiloo about 10pm to our Bungalow.
Another big day for me – I go back to the Church where my parents were married and also to the house I lived in when we migrated in 1955 – my first time back for 49 years. We get up and walk to the church along the Westerweg, about half way there we are met by a couple on bicycles. They introduce themselves as my cousins Willem and Tiny. That was really nice – they walk us to the St Willibrordus Church and there I took photos similar to those I had of my mother and father’s wedding. The Mass is at 10am and is packed because it is First Communion day. I felt very emotional as I spent many hours in this church in my youth and tears come to my eyes.
After Mass, my cousin Martien and his wife Cocky have a birthday party (for Martien) and they send a car for us at the Bungalow park. So we arrive at my old house to see Martien and Cocky and Martien’s 4 brothers and their families. It is a happy gathering and lots of chatting about my family and coffee and cake of course. I have a bag full of small gifts and mementoes from Australia to hand around. I also have a small photo album with photos of my parents in Holland and Australia and my current family which causes lots of interest and talking. I look around the house and find my bedroom which was on the upper floor at the rear of the house overlooking the garden. A reporter and photographer from the local paper turn up and interview Denise and me and take a photo of the whole family group. What a great afternoon we had, stressful yet relaxing.
We take our leave about 4pm and walk around the neighbourhood - the Cafe which my Grandparents owned for many years is right next door to the house, and across the road is the St Willibrordus Stighting. We then visit another cousin nearby, Nico and Lies. We talk and reminisce and have a good time. We return to the Bungalow and later in the evening we go to Willem and Tiny’s house for more companionship and look at their large garden and goats. We enjoyed their company but had to take our leave and go to bed because another busy day tomorrow.
Today is sunny and warm 19C. First we drive to the nearby Onze Lieve Vrouw Kapel and visit the Chapel and walk around the grounds. Then drive to Egmond aan Hoef, Bergen aan Zee, then Bergen. Looking for Hans and cousin Nanda’s house we get lost a bit, however we meet Hans on the road and shows us where their house is. Hans is a painter and has some fabulous paintings in his house. They make us welcome and show us Bergen, the Ruin Kerk and other sights. Then to my Aunt Annie (my father's sister) where we have a nice chat. Then to see Oom Piet (her husband) in a nursing home (he has since died). Then to Aunt Jo (also my father's sister) who is quite old but remembers well .
Hans then takes us to another cousin, Marga, and her husband Wim for a long chat since Marga is writing a book about the Schouten family. We have dinner there and then they show us the way to cousin Annelies and her husband Wim in Oudkarspel. They own 2 stolp Boerderij (dutch farm houses) and have renovated one to high standard as a living house and are going to sell it. They are also renovating the second which is hard work. At about 9pm they show us the way back to Alkmaar, from there we can find Heiloo easily.
Today is the day for exploring Alkmaar where I was born – it’s another sunny 16C day. We hire 2 bicycles from the Bungalow Park and set off for my childhood haunts in Heiloo and Alkmaar. It’s a bit daunting at first riding a bicycle and also on the wrong side of the road, but there are many marked bicycle tracks so it’s not too bad after a while. We ride to see the Witte Kerk in Heiloo then the Deer park, then to the Heiloo Bos and Kattenberg (a small hill), Nijnerburg (a stately home where I used to ice skate in the streams surrounding it), the Heiloo ice skate rink (which is fields right now) and the small streams where I fished between Alkmaar and Heiloo.
Then into Alkmaar past the AZ football stadium, and a quick visit to the open air swimming pool (Zomerbad) where I spent days and days swimming, but is now a covered pool. Then to the Deer Park (another) and to the Kennermerstraatweg, Alkmaar and the house I lived in from 1948-1950 on the first floor next to Pouwel’s garagie (long gone). We bicycle past the St Elizabeth Hospital to the St Adelbertus school on the singel. I remember my old school well and used to bicycle from Heiloo every day even in snow. Then we bicycle into the city centre and chain up the bicycles at a bike rack. Walk into the Laat and Lange straat, Waag plein, Verdronkenoord (where some cousins used to live), the Groote Kerk (which has been turned into a Department Store!), the Town Hall and Hooge Huys – yes I remember it all!
Then to the Molen van Piet (windmill) and nearby live my cousin Nico and his wife Anneke. We knock on the door and have a cool drink and then they take us on a bicycle ride of the special places of which I have photos from my mother. Nico identifies the places and we go to the bridge over the Singel and take photos and also another bridge near St Joseph's church. Then away we go, through heavy traffic, on our bicycles to Akeleistraat where I was born and we find the house and take photos.
Nico has bought a huge old watertower nearby and renovated it as an office block for his graphic design company. It is magnificent and 8 storeys tall and from the top one can see about 50 kms. After that they show us the way back to Heiloo but bicycling about 15kms has been too much for Denise and she can hardly get back to Heiloo, only with frequent stops. She collapses on the bed and I go out to get a cooked chicken for tea.
Today we travel to Amsterdam from Heiloo on the 9.30am train. A nice fast trip and we arrive at the Central Station. It’s 15C and we walk around and check our email at an Internet place. We walk around and the city is busy getting ready for the Queen's Day on 30 April. We visit the Rijksmusuem, which is half closed for renovations, then Anne Frank House and in the evening a huge thunderstorm hits but only for an hour. We get wet and escape into the Argentine Steak House for dinner. Then a walk to the redlight district and to our hotel The Bridge Hotel, just near de Magere Brug (Skinny Bridge).
In the morning we walk to the Flea Market nearby, also the Flower Market, then the Begijnhof (a peaceful retreat for elderly women), and the Church in the Attic (excellent museum).
At 2pm take the train back to Heiloo, pick up the car go to the shopping centre for a few items, then dinner at the Restaurant there, very nice. In the evening I make another visit to Wim and Tiny to chat. (We’re still at the Bungalow Park for 2 more nights).
Today another nice day with no driving – again 15C. Friday is the weekly Cheese market at 10am in Alkmaar and many tourists attend. Coby and Wim pick us up and we go to the Market. A friend of Wim’s works there and we have arranged to get right inside the market instead of being behind the barriers! Martien my cousin also works there. At 10am we get inside the market and the colourful display begins. The traders buy and sell the cheese and the bearers then carry the cheese on their biers to the historic Weightower. The bearers wear different coloured hats. It’s a wonderful spectacle and we take lots of photos.
Wim and Coby then drive around the Alkmaar district, to Schoorl where there is a huge sand dune to climb (100 metres high). Then to the sea dijke at de Zijpe the Hondsbossche Zeewering which is 20km long , and pretty villages Graft and De Rijp, and town of Heerhugoward. Then a ferry across the Kanaal and to the Alkmaardermeer. Back to Heiloo to take photos in the tulip fields, and dinner at Coby’s house. Great day.
We cleaned the Bungalow and packed the car and left Heiloo and drove to Hoorn which is not far - where the East India company operated from in 1700s. There to meet with my friend Hein and his wife Janny and son Erick. We have a map and follow it ok until the very end when we are confused by the streetsigns, but then find it. We are sleeping at their house tonight. In the afternoon Hein drove us to the port of Hoorn and walked around the port and village – very historic. In the afternoon had a rest then a Dutch home cooked dinner, excellent.
Hein and Janny drove us from Hoorn across the Afsluitdijk (a huge dijke which changed the Zuider Zee forever) to Friesland to the small town of Hindelopen – an old historic place. Then in sunny weather to Lelystad where there was a huge traffic jam but we bypassed it as we were going Hein’s daughter’s house. After coffee we drove back across the Ijsel Lake on the new dijke which goes right through the center of the Lake. Fantastic feat. Through Enkhuizen and back to Hoorn. Then dinner at their house, and we climbed into our own car to go across the Afsluitdijk again to our Hotel the Graete Pier in Kimswerd, Friesland. We booked in about 7 pm, the room was excellent.
The last family visit in Netherlands is to my cousin Fred and wife Marianne in Sneek. After a great breakfast we drive from Kimswerd and park the car in a large parking lot in Sneek. We look at the old tower along the port. Then walk to Fred’s house and sit and talk. Then they take us to explore this historic town (yes all towns here are historic). Then we drive to Bolsward nearby following them in our car and explore this also. We say goodbye and drive our car to Franeker where we inspect the Astronomical Museum with a ceiling mounted Clock about 400 years old which shows the rotation of the sun, moon and stars. Unfortunately the tour is only in Dutch and the guide won't let me translate for Denise! We drive to Harlingen and find a nice fish restaurant near the harbour and sit outside in the sun and have fish ‘n’ chips dinner there. Drive back to the hotel which was only 5 minutes away.
We wake to a bit of early morning rain but the day is very nice 15C. We drive to Giethorn and the roads are very quiet. We have a lot of trouble finding the Giethoorn tourist area because we stopped too early along the road. We stop and walk around but can't see anything that looks like the pictures in the guidebook. But when we get ready to leave we suddenly spot a sign to the tourist part of Giethorn. It is truly excellent and we take a guided tour of the village by boat. This village has no roads but everything is done by boat. Then we drive on towards the Hoge Veluwe (a large nature park) and the Hotel Buitenlust in Hoenderloo. The driving is good in this part of Netherlands and we find the hotel ok, good room too with a view. We go for a quick walk to the entrance of the Veluwe but you have to pay a fee, even to walk in there. Since there is only 1 hour left in the day we don’t want to pay for a full day. So we walk around outside the gates and then go to dinner at an expensive restaurant (52 Euro for two). Well it’s not every day we do this, this is the first time actually.
At 9am we walk to the Hoge Veluwe National Park (about 500 metres from the hotel) and check out the free bikes (there are hundreds of them). We pick 2 that are our size and off we go bicycling! First to the St Hubert Hunting Lodge, a lovely old mansion. Then back to the main pathway but I take a wrong turn and we ride about 4 Km in the wrong direction, uphill. I realise this and we go back but Denise is devastated. We then find the Kroller-Muller Museum which is amazing with paintings and sculptures and has 278 Van Gogh paintings. We walk through the beautiful gardens filled with sculptures. Then bicycle to the "Musea-Onder" which is a science museum under the ground. We have a rest and slowly ride back to the start on our bicycles (we rode 26km on the bikes). Walk back to the hotel for a rest, then a circular drive in the car around the district to look at Otterloo and back to the hotel. It is a truly beautiful area.
We leave at 8.30am and mix it with the morning traffic to go to Het Loo, which is the Queen’s Palace and Garden. We park and wait for the opening of the ticket box and get in the gate quickly and bypassing the horse stables walk to the Palace (about one Km) and are the first ones in the palace for the day. A walk through the beautiful Palace and out to the garden (that’s always the most exciting part for Denise). We leave and work our way out of town to Zutphen where we walk around (excellent town) and have an icecream overlooking the River, then visit Arcen Castle Garden for a few hours. Through Venlo, Roermond and Heerlen we drive to Kerkrade to the Formule 1 Motel (remember Peterborough). We drive around for ages in the Industrial Park to find it until Denise suddenly sees a sign and we get there. After booking in we had planned a scenic tour of Maastricht, and we drive to the town and after a lot of trouble find a park. We walk around to have a look and it is getting dark when we leave, so forget the scenic tour. When we get to Kerkrade we’re not sure where to turn off the highway but we take a chance and there the motel is right in front of us. Lucky! The motel was similar to the Formule 1 in England but cleaner.(120 Km)
Left Kerkrade at 9am with some rain along the way and drive west right across Belgium to Brugges. We bypass Brussels on the highway about 1 Km in the air and it is rainy. Arrive Brugge at 12.30pm and look for the hotel which is near the Market Square in the centre of the city. We leave the highway and follow some signs to the city centre. I then suddenly see a sign for the hotel for about 1 second and turn a quick left and there is a Parking Garage which I drive straight into. I knew the hotel was near a parking station. Yes I am right the hotel is about 400 metres away. Lucky again. We book into the Hotel Lucca and get a nice room and go to explore the town before bad weather comes.
First we take a canal boat tour of the city and see the historic old buildings. After that we walk around this lovely city where every street has a niche with an Our Lady statue in it. We see the Market Square and Onze Lieve Vrouw Kerk, Begijnhof, the Burg, Basilica of the Holy Blood, The Belfry and Gothic Town Hall. It starts to rain and we go back to the hotel for a rest then find an Internet café. After that in pouring rain we look for a restaurant in the Market Square but most are deserted. Anyway we pick one and have a nice expensive dinner (57 Euro). (250 Km)
To read Part 3 of the Diary and more photos Click Part 3 page.
My email is hugo@accountant.com for any comments.
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