Dispatch # 38 The Netherlands

Dispatch # 38 The Netherlands May-June, 2005 “De familie tijd (Family Time)” Completely rejuvenated after our canal boat trip in Burgundy, we loaded up the van and departed from Chatel Censoir, France. Our destination was Lochem, the Netherlands and the drive would turn out to be the longest of the trip. Although the drive from Florence to Paris was longer, we spread the driving time for that trip over the course of several days to alleviate the pain of traveling with four children without the aid of an audio/visual tranquilizer. Our fourteen-hour road trip took us through northern France and portions of Luxembourg and Belgium, before we arrived at the border of The Netherlands. Along the way we passed through the thick, heavily forested Ardennes, the site of some of the most brutal fighting between the Allies and Germany during World War II. As we past, we peered into the darkened forest floor, trying to imagine how difficult it must have been to fight through this seemingly impenetrable natural barrier. Even today, the dense woods contained an eerie sense of foreboding. It was strange to drive through the now empty border crossing checkpoints, large stations that have become obsolete with the new European Union treaties permitting free transfer between countries. It was especially interesting for us as we had been traveling within the European Union for months and had never been required to show our passports. You may recall that when we flew from Cairo, Egypt to Barcelona, Spain, there was a tip that a bomb had been placed on our plane. When we arrived in Barcelona, there had been a considerable amount of confusion on how to handle the passengers. In the chaos following our release, we had apparently gone up the wrong set of stairs, because we emerged into the terminal near the gate for our flight to Rome, Italy. We never had to pass through immigration in Italy because we had come from another EU country, Spain. As a result, there was no record of our entering the EU and to date; we had passed though Spain, Italy, France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands without having to show our passports. We assume that this would continue through England and Ireland until we left for home later in the trip. I remain mildly concerned that we will be met upon departure by a savvy Irish immigration agent who will note the large gap in time since our last passport check in Egypt and the fact that we have never officially entered the European Union. Just inside the Dutch border, we stopped at the American Military Cemetery outside of the village of Margraten. Although we had arrived too late to enter the main gates, we found a farm path that led through a field to the outer boundaries of the cemetery. From our vantage point at the edge of the cemetery we could see the impressive white marble memorial tower standing guard over the burial grounds. Beyond the tower were wide tree-lined malls with large burial plots on each side. As we had witnessed at the D-Day cemetery in Normandy, the rows of over eight thousand perfectly aligned white marble crosses stretched out in each direction. From Margraten we continued through the southern and eastern portions of the country until we reached Lochem, which was situated just west of the German border. Lochem was an hour’s drive north and east of Arnhem and Nijmegen, and a couple hours drive directly east of Amsterdam, which is located on the opposite, western end of the this diminutive nation. The focus of the other legs of our journey has been sightseeing, exploring and absorbing as much as we could at each destination. Our focus for this portion of the trip was less ambitious in scope, but more meaningful in nature. We had come to The Netherlands to reunite with old friends. As a result, some of you may not find this dispatch very exciting to read, but let me assure you, we had a wonderful time in the Netherlands. We accomplished what we came here to do, spend lots of time with our Dutch family. When I was a senior in high school, Gabriella Franck, an exchange student from The Netherlands, spent a year living with our family. Gabriella fit right in with our family and she quickly assumed the role of the daughter my mother never had. We had fun experiencing and enjoying our senior year together. By the end of her stay with us we had all grown to love Gabriella as a member of our family. It is safe to say that the feelings were mutual because in the years following, two more members of the Franck family traveled to the United States and spent a year with the Parkinson’s. First, her brother Joost joined us, followed later by their younger sister, Stephanie. So, over the course of six years, we had a unique opportunity to get to know three members of the same Dutch family. During the same time period, adding to these experiences was a family trip to Canada to meet the family of Gabriella‘s older sister, Monique, and my graduate school backpacking visit to The Netherlands where I spent time with Joost in Den Haag and the Franck family at their country home in Borculo. I am not sure about the experience of others who have either hosted an exchange, or lived with another family overseas, but our experience was particularly enjoyable. Although I had formed a close bond with the Franck family in general, and Gabriella, Joost and Stefanie, in particular, with the passing of years, I eventually had begun to lose track of my Dutch brother and sisters, their lives and families. So, it was with a bit of trepidation that I planned our reunion. Although I approached this part of our journey with optimism, truth be told, I was uncertain as to how we would interact after so many years. My anxiety proved to be entirely misplaced. Our reception was wonderful. To my delight, after a brief period of reintroduction, I felt as though I recaptured a large amount of the familiarity and warmth that I had once shared with my Dutch family almost thirty years ago. Our families took an instantaneous liking to each other, and our hosts went out of their way to make us feel welcome. When we first arrived, Gabriella and her two daughters, Marjolein and Willemiek, met us at our campground. The combination of being released from a cramped van after fourteen hours and finally meeting people that they had heard Elizabeth and I talk about for the past couple weeks, meant that our kids were on fire. I don’t know that I have ever seen them so full of energy and silliness. Frankie was literally running around in circles, roaring at the top of his voice. Meanwhile, Carmen, Bella and Maddie were all talking over each other, jabbering a “mile-a-minute” at our Dutch hosts. I watched with amusement, Gabriella’s and her daughters’ wide-eyed reaction to our band of “amped-up” American hooligans. I am sure that there were some interesting observations shared by Gabe and her girls during their ride back home. In a way it was a perfect introduction to American children for Marjolein and Willemiek. As our band of six was too large to be accommodated in her home, Gabriella found us a great campground, called Landgoed Ruighenrode, which was located on the outskirts of the nearby town of Lochem. The facility reminded us of some of the splendid campervan parks that we had visited in New Zealand. It was a huge park. Lots for campers were intermixed with new modular homes. The amenities of the camp included restaurants, pools, a lake, activity center, bike rentals and much more. Unfortunately, the weather proved to be much too cool to make use of the pools or lake. We were, however, able to make use of a nearby indoor water park which provided complimentary admission to guests of the campground. We stayed in a brand new, nicely furnished, three-bedroom modular home located adjacent to a playground. The place was perfect for our family. We spent most of our days exploring the camp, taking long walks, playing at the playgrounds, and visiting one of the nearby picturesque Dutch villages. Our evenings were spent enjoying the warm hospitality of Gabriella’s and Wouter’s home. Tasty home cooked meals were followed by relaxing evenings spent in adult conversation while the children played nearby. I teased Gabriella that she had kept the secret of her cooking abilities from her American family for the entire length of her stay. She reminded me that she was there to experience American culture and cuisine (insert cheeseburgers, macaroni and cheese, steak and potatoes) and felt no obligation to broaden our appreciation of international cooking. It was the first time that we had the opportunity to meet and get to know Gabriella’s three children, Marjolein, Jasper and Willemiek. The kids were the consummate hosts to our children. Willemiek was Bella’s age and she, along with Bella and Maddie, got along like three peas in a pod. They loved to walk over to a nearby playground and would spend hours in a little wooden play fort talking and playing card games. Although Marjolein and Jasper were seventeen and fourteen respectively, they were extremely kind, patient and attentive in their interaction with our younger children. All our girls loved Marjolein and she would spend hours playing down to our girls’ levels, especially Carmen, who could not get enough of Marjolein’s attention. Frankie, meanwhile, was in seventh heaven hanging out with another, albeit much older, boy. He had spent most of his trip surrounded by the girls, and playmates of the girls. So, when he found Jasper, an immediate “boy crush” developed. Frankie would follow Jasper’s every move around the house to the point of being in clear violation of all international stalking laws. However, to Jasper’s credit, he never complained. Frankie loved to sit on his lap while he surfed the Internet and played computer games. Stefanie graciously took time off of work, drove from Arnhem to Lochem and spent several afternoons and evenings with our family. We also took a day trip to visit her home in Arnhem. While her husband, Sjoob, was at work, we joined Stefanie and her son, Tommie, and visited a wonderful open-air museum called the Openluchtmuseum. The Openluctmuseum was set on a large plot of land and had all sorts of interesting exhibits and old fashioned buildings, mills, laborer homes, farmhouses and assorted shops. There were many historic buildings sprinkled around the campus. Working windmills, workshops of potters, wooden shoe makers, wheelwrights, carpenters, blacksmiths, and bakers. All of the shops and their tradesmen were dressed in period costumes and were actively fashioning their respective crafts. There were some delightful playgrounds incorporating period specific equipment from the early 1900’s. In addition, scattered around the heavily forested grounds were beautiful gardens and ponds. It was so nice to be with Stefanie. She has such an easy way about her, her sense of humor and seemingly infinite supply of patience (for the antics of our children) made for a fun and relaxing day. After our splendid afternoon excursion we retired to Sjoob and Stefanie’s home. After a nice dinner, Elizabeth and I talked with Sjoob and Stefanie late into the evening while the children frolicked at a nearby playground. It is always fun to see friends, but there is something special, something more genuine about the experience if you are able to visit them at their home. It always makes the connection a bit stronger, to be able to visualize where they are when you are talking to them on the phone or exchanging an email. With that in mind, we accepted the kind invitation of Joost and his wife, Rianne, to visit their home in Deventer. They also had a handsome home, filled with a warm and gracious atmosphere. They were understandably proud to show us their new addition to their home, which included a beautiful modern kitchen, and family room, as well as, a wonderful outdoor patio area adjacent to the kitchen. The most impressive thing about the addition for me, being handiwork impaired as I am, was that Joost had done the majority of the work himself. I am always envious of craftsmen and those who can build things with their own hands. After a nice lunch, Joost, Rianne and their youngest son, Lex, gave us a walking tour of the attractive town of Deventer. As we left their home, I felt a sense of sadness, thinking about how much time that I had allowed to pass without making contact with such a good friend as Joost. Random Observations. Reunions and family hospitality aside for the moment let me offer some random observations about our time in The Netherlands. We are convinced that the Dutch rank as some of the friendliest people in the world. Without exception, we were treated with extraordinary hospitality and affability and by the end of our time in The Netherlands all of the Parkinson’s had become quite smitten. There was not a person that we met who did not greet us a welcoming smile. The Netherlands had a distinctly gracious and inviting atmosphere about it and the physical landscape was equally inviting. Driving in the area we passed rows of fertile, luxuriant farm fields and past tidy brick farmhouses with steep roofs of tile or thatch, divided light paneled windows framed in white and bordered with forest green shutters and surrounded by immaculately maintained and landscaped grounds. As we followed the winding, narrow, tree-lined roadways, we came upon quaint stone villages with brick streets chock full of smart specialty shops. We loved the fact that almost everyone seemed to be getting around by bicycle. Groups of school children, businessmen in suits, young and old, filled the bike paths. The portion of the country that we visited was designed for biking. There were bike paths everywhere, along every highway, road and street that we traveled. In town, the bikes lined the streets and sidewalks. It seemed a testament not only to the Dutch sense of environmental responsibility, but also to their inviting laid-back lifestyle. Our home was hooked into cable television, which was a treat for the kids. They had spent many months on the road with their only connection to the animated world being our miniature DVD player and a limited supply of DVDs that we had purchased along the way. We spent our mornings in our pajamas, eating breakfast and watching cartoons. But not the cartoons that they had grown used to in the U.S.; they were the cartoons that Elizabeth and I had watched when we were young. Classics like “Top Cat,” “Deputy Dawg,” “Atom Ant,” ‘Yogi Bear” and “Snagglepuss.” I was surprised at how much the kids enjoyed watching them, but I was even more surprised at how much fun I had reviewing these timeless classics. I could not help but think wistfully back to simpler times when harmless phrases like “Heavens to murgatroid” were a part of this young American’s lexicon. Although the focus during our stay in the Netherlands was family time and not sightseeing, we did have the opportunity to make a couple side trips. The Doolhof hedge maze in Ruurlo was an interesting attraction. It was an enormous hedge maze with so many turns and dead-ends, that it was easy to get lost. The kids seemed to have little difficulty finding the observation tower located in the middle of the maze, but Elizabeth and I were forced to resorting to drawing arrows and notes in the dirt paths to keep our bearings. It was a nice, sunny day and we played several challenging games of hide and seek with the kids, including Willemiek, who had the day off from school. Afterwards, we had some ice cream before stopping at a nearby restaurant famous in the area for its pancakes. These unique pancakes were nothing like we were used to back home. They were very thin, deep fried and full of tasty ingredients. The pancakes were similar to a crepe in thinness and taste, but larger than the size of a dinner plate. We had wonderful combinations of apple, sugar, and cinnamon, as well as pancakes mixed with ham, bacon and cheese. There were dozens of varieties to choose from and all were piping hot and delicious. As parents, Elizabeth and I were impressed by how kid-friendly we found most of the restaurants. With few exceptions, the restaurants all had nice outdoor play spaces for the children to romp around while we waited for our meals. What would a visit to the Netherlands be without a touring a working windmill? We had seen dozens of the fan-armed giants during stay, but we had yet to see one up close. Gabriella took us over to one of these remarkable structures located just outside of Lochem. Although the windmill was over 150 years old, it still was in operation. Apparently a favorite source of locals looking for freshly milled flour and grains. We climbed up the rickety wooden ladders, through a labyrinth of whirling wheels and groaning pulleys, past a huge, slowly turning grinding wheel to the top of the mill. As we watched the fans slowly turn, we looked out over a pastoral setting of green fields and grazing cows. God may have made the Netherlands, but the Dutch made it livable. As we drove into Amsterdam, their elaborate earthworks, dikes and levees impressed us. This is a nation where a good portion of the country is below sea level. Over the centuries, the industrious Dutch reclaimed the land from the sea. While we were there we read an article about recent innovations in engineering and home building in Amsterdam. To put it simply, newly constructed homes were being built with a clever series of pontoons that would allow the homes to rise with the water in the event of a flooding. Before we bid you farewell from the Netherlands, allow me to offer, as you know that I like to do, a brief bit of history. The Netherlands’ early history is linked with Belgium and Luxembourg; the three were known as the 'Low Countries' until the 16th century, when the present-day Netherlands' boundaries were roughly drawn. In the late 16th century the region's northern provinces, inhabited by recent converts to Protestantism, united to fight the Catholic Spanish rulers. Philip II of Spain sent the cruel Inquisition to enforce Catholicism, and war broke out in 1568. Prince William of Orange led the revolt of the Netherlands and after 80 years of conflict, the provinces of North and South Holland (areas around modern day Amsterdam) allied to expel the Spaniards. As a result, the term “Holland” became synonymous with the independent country that emerged in this corner of Europe. Amsterdam emerged onto the European stage in Holland's most glorified period (from about 1580 to about 1740). During this time period, the Dutch navy joined those of England, France and Spain to dominate the world's seas. During this “Golden Age” for the Dutch, an extraordinary amount of wealth was generated by the Dutch East India Company, which sent ships to the Far East in search of spices and other exotic goods. Meanwhile, they established settlements in places like the Cape of Good Hope (modern day South Africa), Indonesia, Surinam, the Antilles and New Amsterdam (today's New York) and established trading posts throughout Asia. This wealth in turn stimulated the arts and brought renown to painters such as Rembrandt. But it didn't last. In 1795 the French invaded and Napoleon appointed his younger brother Louis as king. When the largely unpopular French occupation came to an end, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, incorporating Belgium and Luxembourg, was born. The first king, William I of Orange, was crowned in 1814, and the House of Orange rules to this day. In 1830 the Belgians rebelled and became independent; Luxembourg did the same soon after. The Netherlands' modern history saw the country lapsing from global prominence into comfortable obscurity; it began to put into place innovative social programs, many of which survive today. The Netherlands was able to stay neutral through WWI but couldn't exercise the same privilege in WWII. The Germans invaded in May 1940, and imposed a harsh and brutal occupation upon the Dutch that would last for almost five years. As a history buff, while in Deventer I personally enjoyed seeing the span of the bridge that had been the setting for the World War II movie “A Bridge Too Far.” We had seen the real “bridge too far” while we were visiting Arnhem. Not sure if it has anything to do with being such a small country, but the kids loved the fact that many of the farm animals that we saw along the roads appeared to be miniature in size. Breeds of small horses, small, longhaired cattle and diminutive sheep seemed to be the norm. Throughout our world trip, shopping for provisions has been outing that seemed to provide unusual enjoyment for the kids. Whenever we stayed in a self-catering apartment, there was always a considerable amount of enthusiasm surrounding a trip to a store, any store. In our village in the Netherlands, the local store was equipped with miniature shopping carts designed specifically for children. In case you were wondering, the rest of the Netherlands, including the Dutch themselves, appeared to be full-sized. Anyway, the children loved going to this store, pushing their undersized carts around and taking turns searching for an item on our shopping list. They would each get an assignment and then off they would go, disappearing down different aisles in search of their item. On one occasion, Frankie was gone for a disturbingly long period of time. Having aroused the concern of his family, an all points bulletin was called and our team dispatched in opposite directions in search of our missing-in-action shopper. When finally located, he had a cart full of women’s bras, or “boo-boo’s” in Frankie-speak. Not being a buccaneer that is easily persuaded to abandon his treasure, he spent the rest of the shopping trip walking up and down the aisles with a cart full of “boo-boo’s” leaving an assortment of clearly perplexed Dutch parents and store employees in his vapor trail. Carmen continues to carry her satchel of miscellaneous toys, souvenirs and assorted novelties wherever we go. She calls it her “bag of occupyment” and she never ceases to amaze me with some of the items she pulls from that purse. Maddie and Bella have proven to be voracious readers and they continue to devour books along the way. Elizabeth and I realize that there could be much worse things to spend money on, and we can‘t help but feel a twinge of guilt when the Maddie sadly announced that she didn’t know if she could make herself re-read the same book for a fourth time. Meanwhile, Frankie continues to harass his sisters with anything long and pointed that he can get his hands on. Sticks, broom handles, butter knives, it doesn’t make a difference to him. We are convinced that he was a pirate in another life. On one of our last afternoons in the Netherlands, the entire Franck clan gathered at our camp for a party and barbeque. While the children played, the adults laughed and told fun stories of our times back in the U.S. It was one of the most enjoyable evenings of my trip. After spending most of the past ten months in the company of strangers, Gabriella, Joost, Stefanie and their wonderful families provided a connection to something that we had missed during most of our journey, family. I am hopeful that we will not allow as much time to pass before reuniting with them again. NEXT DISPATCH. LONDON, ENGLAND