Day 13 - Back to the US and Reflections on the Netherlands

David and I got up early and packed up all our stuff.  Martin came over and got a bag of food and paper goods that we couldn't bring home.  Then we headed off to the airport.  The ride was to take a little over an hour, but about halfway there, we encountered a massive traffic jam.  Luckily, our GPS offered us an alternative, which took us through small towns for about 15 minutes until we got back on the highway.  The tie up was about 10 miles long, so we possibly would have missed our plane had we not detoured.  In one of the towns we passed, they had monopoly signs up and large colored dice in front of many houses.  I think it was some sort of town wide monopoly game!

The traffic jam, as seen from our detour

Part of the monopoly game

More beautiful scenery

It took a long time from when we dropped the car off to get to the gate, but we finally got there and eventually boarded the plane.  I knew that we were on other sides of the aisle in the same row, but I didn't realize that there were two aisles and we were on opposite sides of different aisles!  Plus, we were right next to the bathrooms (yuck!) so we couldn't even see each other!

The arrow is pointing to my view of David!

We were on KLM, and they served a ridiculous amount of food on the flight!  Fortunately, I slept a bit, watched some movies, and David and I visited each other.  Our daughter picked us up and we were safely home!

REFLECTIONS ON THE NETHERLANDS

The people there are so warm and friendly!  There wasn't a single person we encountered who was anything but kind and helpful.  From the Haven masters (ran the marinas) to restaurant servers, to our two rental home hosts, no one was anything but lovely!

The towns are charming!  Beautiful winding streets, often paved with cobblestones, cute stores and cafes were everywhere, even in the larger cities.  

Everyone speaks English!  When I would approach someone and ask if they spoke English, many would say "a little", and then proceed to have a complete conversation in perfect English!  

The people there love Americans!  Many hope to come visit, but some expressed fear that they wouldn't be welcomed with the current administration, which they have nothing but disdain for.  Whenever I was asked where I'm from, I also tried to quickly tell them that I hate him (trump) too.  Then they give me a big smile!

We passed thousands of windmills on our trip, and despite what the US president says, there wasn't a single dead bird to be seen!  In fact, my Dutch relatives explained that there are sensors on them (the new ones) to prevent birds from flying into them!  I didn't see any of the old style windmills working at all.

Like all of Europe, baskets of bread and glasses of water on the table are not free, something I always forget till I'm there.  Also, tipping isn't really an expectation, although as Americans, we always left a tip.  

A lot of people smoke.  Even in the outside parts of restaurants.  This was possibly our biggest negative of the country.  I didn't realize how few people in the US still smoke till I encountered people smoking all over the Netherlands.

Everyone rides a bicycle!  You could spend an hour walking through a town and not see a single moving car, but you'd see dozens of bicyclists!  And unfortunately, they are not wearing helmets.  

Although we associate the Netherlands with wooden shoes, no one actually wears them (except, I'm told, sometimes farmers when walking through muddy areas).

The food is delicious!  There wasn't one bad meal!  Beautiful fresh salads, meats, chicken and seafood, all yummy!  And don't get me started on the desserts!!  And ice cream, my favorite, is so much less expensive!  At an ice cream stand, one scoop is only about 2 or 2.50 euros!  

All in all, we had a sensational trip!  I hope to return!  I hope for our Dutch relatives to visit!  And I highly recommend a visit to this marvelous country!

Day 12 - Breda - Meeting My Relatives!

Other than enjoying Holland and boating on its many rivers and canals, we also came to meet, for the first time, my second cousin, Rosalinde and her husband, Martin.  I "found" her quite a few years ago while I was searching for my Dutch relatives.  My grandfather came from Holland in 1914, by himself.  He was the youngest of about 9 siblings.  Rosalinde's grandfather and my grandfather were brothers!

When I knew we were definitely coming here, I got in touch with her and we made plans to spend the day together.  They very kindly invited us to come around 10:30 and stay through dinner!  I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous.  That's a long time to spend with complete strangers, even ones to whom I'm related! 

David and I had booked a rental in Breda where they live.  By a crazy coincidence, we were within walking distance of Rosalinde and Martin's home!  

David and I got to their home and were greeted so warmly by Rosalinde and Martin, you would never know we were meeting for the first time!  

They served us tea and the most delicious cake, while we chatted about our family tree.  I shared pictures of the American "branch" of the family as well as a brief family tree that I copied from Ancestry.com.  She also shared pictures of her parents and siblings.   She told us that she had been named after a relative in America, and we both figured out that it was my Aunt Rosemary!  

Later in the day, her daughter Maaike, her hubby Jochem, and their daughters Suze and Nine (pronounced Nina) arrived.  We had a wonderful lunch and then we all headed into downtown Breda where we walked around seeing the area.  We stopped for cold drinks, and then ice cream.  We stopped by our rental on the way home to get food leftover from our trip to give to them.  Since it was so close, we walked back.  

Then we sat in their back yard and had bread and cheese, and later a wonderful dinner!  The day flew by and the conversation never stopped!  We discussed everything from family ties to politics to sports!  I truly feel like I've known them longer than a day!  

 Rosalinde, me, Martin, Maaike, Nine, David, Jochem and Suze

Walking around Breda (next bunch of pics)

This and the next picture were in a former movie theater turned food court!

My "tropical lemonade"

Delicious bread and cheese at Rosalinde and Martin's home

    

Day 11 - To Rotterdam, Antwerp and Breda

As soon as we finished breakfast this morning, we started packing all our stuff and throwing away uneaten food.  We left Kerkdriel and headed to Rotterdam, where Adele caught a train to Schiphol Airport to fly back to NYC.  Then David and I drove to Breda to find our rental home for tonight to drop our stuff, and then we headed to Antwerp for the afternoon.  

Driving into Antwerp we hit the most horrendous traffic.  It was taking forever to go the last few blocks to our destination.  Finally, we found a parking  garage, left the car, and walked.  

Our first stop was the Central Train Station.  I had read it was magnificent, and it didn't disappoint. 

Then we walked quite a bit towards the Grote Markt, a large central square in Antwerp.  On the way we passed a cat cafe called "Katmosfeer", where we were going to stop, but they didn't sell food, just coffee, and we were starving!  

We continued on until we found a place for lunch.  I had a club sandwich and David had tomato soup and calimari.

The Grote Markt was filled with beautiful buildings and a large fountain in the middle.  We wandered around looking into some stores and got a few souvenirs.

Grote Markt and next four pics

We walked a little further to see the giant ferris wheel they had and came upon Het Steen, an old fortress.  This was also on my list of places to visit in Antwerp, so we went!

Het Steen is now an interactive museum, and tells the history of Antwerp and of Het Steen itself.

Het Steen

This wooden piece has doors to open to see different pictures or objects about Antwerp

The people you see here are all holograms!

Part of a movie about Antwerp

View from the top

A ferry

Here are a few pictures of Antwerp we took as we were walking back to the parking garage.

We got back to the garage and I went to pay in the machine while David got the car.  We left and had driven about two miles, when David asked me to look up something on my phone.  It was then that I realized that I had left my cell phone on top of the machine where I paid.  David immediately started heading back to the garage, but there was so much traffic, it was taking forever and I was in full panic mode!  Finally, when we were almost a half a mile away, and stopped in traffic, I got out of the car and ran the rest of the way.  Once I got to the right floor of the garage, I had trouble finding the machine.  Thankfully, my phone was still there!  It then took me several minutes to figure out where David and the car had gone, and did I mention, it was raining?

We got back to our beautiful rental, had a much needed drink, and we threw in some laundry.  Here are pics of the rental house in Breda.

We thought we had made a reservation at a Spanish restaurant in Breda, but it turns out we hadn't.  Luckily they were able to give us a table in this jam packed restaurant!  They specialize in tapas and we shared four dishes and a liter of Sangria.  Everything was just delicious!  

Anchovies - which I have never before tasted, but they were delicious!!  Tasted like herring.

Already half eaten, I think it was duck with almonds.  Delish!

Tomato salad with burrata.  David said it was the best thing he's eaten on this whole trip!

Shrimp in a garlic sauce!