Voyage of the Vikings

One of the places I always wanted to visit is Schiermonnikoog, an island off the Dutch north coast.  Conceptually, it resembles Nantucket, off the Massachusetts coast.  It is an upscale tourist trap, famous for beaches and good restaurants, and it can only be reached by ferry.  They make it difficult to impossible to take your car, and there are lots of bicycle rental places.

Relaxed Atmosphere on Schiermonnikoog

On August 5, we were enjoying the hospitality of the Huizinga family in Groningen, and since the ferry to the island is close to where they live, I suggested we all make a day trip of it. The reason I wanted to visit the island was not so much to compare it to Nantucket, but because my maternal grandfather, a sea captain, was born there.  My mother had always wanted to visit but never made it.

This turned out to be an astoundingly fortuitous trip.  It was a beautiful day on Schiermonnikoog.  We started with a pleasant lunch at an iconic hotel.

Cousins Marijke and Fokko on Schiermonnikoog

Then we went to a church graveyard to look for the name Teensma, the family name of my mother’s father.  There were lots of them.

Churchyard Plaque, Unrecovered Dead from Schiermonnikoog during World War II

After wandering past the gravestones and P.J photographing them for the record, I found the church door open and someone sitting inside.  I asked whether it was possible to find out more about those buried there.  She hesitated a little, but then advised me to knock on someone’s door in the village.

In turn, that person sent me to a 94-year-old gentleman, the last surviving member of the Teensma family on Schiermonnikoog, who happened to have finished the family tree going back to the 17^th century that very afternoon!  He had pinned it on a big board.

His grandparents had been best friends with my great grandparents.  He knew about my grandfather and grandmother off the top of his head, how they met in Antwerp, plus other details I did not know. He let me photograph the family tree he had just finished, plus supporting archive info.

I could not have collected so much information in such a short time from the Internet!  We exchanged personal contact info.  He was almost as surprised and happy to meet as I was.

Arjan Post and Cousin Pieter Teensma Examining the Teensma Family Tree

Pieter Teensma’s House

The island was very, very, crowded, though.  My newly found cousin recommended I come back sometime in the off-season.

Crowded Ferry to Schiermonnikoog

Sailing Back from Schiermonnikoog

Photos © 2014 P.J. Gardner. All rights reserved.

Since I wrote my last blog entry, more than a week ago, we have been spending time in Holland, visiting friends and family and taking it easy to let P.J recover from her bout with the cruise ship’s virus.

In Groningen, in the northeast corner of Holland, we stayed with cousins for a couple days on the Van Starkenborgh Canal, watching barges chugging back and forth, night and day.

House on the Canal (For Sale) in Aduard, Groningen

Van Starkenborgh Canal in Aduard

Arjan and Cousin Fokko in Aduard

On August 5, we made a daytrip to Schiermonnikoog, an off-shore Dutch island that has some resemblance to Nantucket, and on August 6, we visited friends in Drenthe, a province of the Netherlands that resembles Vermont— except that the highest point is only about 100 feet above sea level.

Drenthe is the least densely populated Dutch province, and there are wild natural areas there, which elsewhere in Holland is pretty rare.  The family of our friends has had a summer home there, in Zeegse, since the 1920’s.  We enjoyed a wonderful walk through the woods and heather fields.

Fireweed in Drenthe

Arjan Hiking with Koos and Neils Kuiper in Drenthe

White Hat Ladies: P.J. and Yuk Ying in Drenthe (photo by Koos Kuiper)

The Unmanicured Aa River

Scottish Bull in Drenthe

Photos © 2014 P.J. Gardner. All rights reserved.

On our way to Groningen, we drove over Flevoland, the newest part of Holland, a series of four “polders” reclaimed from the sea, one at a time, about a decade apart, from the 1930s though the 1960s. Most of the road crosses the protective dike that defines the new territory. On our left, we could see the IJsselmeer, filled with busy shipping, and on our right, low-lying parklands and bird sanctuaries.

Arjan decided to visit the town of Urk, a former island, now turned into a shipping port and resort town. After walking through the rather touristy part of town to the lighthouse at the end, we found a seaside cafe, where we sat and enjoyed a leisurely lunch while watching old sailing ships ply by and children splashing in the waters closer to shore.

Old Fishing Port at Urk

Urk Lighthouse on the IJsselmeer

Resort Atmosphere at Urk

Photos © 2014 P.J. Gardner. All rights reserved.

In Amsterdam, we visited a family friend, Greetje, in her lovely (and quintessentially Dutch) home in Sloten, a suburb of Amsterdam. Whereas Rotterdam is thoroughly modern, having been essentially demolished during World War II and rebuilt, Amsterdam retains its historic Dutch character and relationship to the past.

Greetje’s House in Sloten

Traditional Dutch Living Room

Greetje’s house was built by an architect in the late 1920s and recently modernized by her son Haijo, also an architect. The gardens around the house are lovely, as are all the homey touches inside, as is the woman who lives there. We spent many long hours sitting in the garden, eating marvelous treats and enjoying conversation, in a way Europeans really know how to do.

P.J. and Arjan at Greetje’s House in Sloten (photo by Greetje Gehrels)

Greetje’s Patio and Garden

Details are Everything!

Stroopwaffles and Butter Cakes

On August 3, the three of us strolled down old Sloten’s quaint, historic main street to the windmill at the end. Along the way, we visited many signs of the past: two old churches, a tiny police station, a marker in the town indicating that people who were banished from Amsterdam could come no further, etc.

Sloten Historic Main Street

1794 Stile Indicating Amsterdam Town Limits for Exiles

At the windmill (built in 1847 and refurbished in 1991), we took a tour and endured the tourist presentation at the top about Rembrandt’s time in the area. Our first guide wasn’t very interesting, so we jumped tours in the middle and learned a great deal more from the second one.

Old Sloten Mollen (Windmill)

• Watch Arjan’s Windmill Video (MP4, 33.3 MB, 0:16 sec)

In the evening, we joined Haijo in the Baarsjes neighborhood of Amsterdam for an outdoor dinner in the central plaza. Here, we saw signs of a vibrant student atmosphere and youth culture.

Haijo and Greetje in the Baarsjes Plaza

Early the next day, we repacked our bags (it was so interesting to Greetje to see me cramming my suitcases that she took pictures!) and started the drive north towards Groningen, the next family visit on our tour.

Photos © 2014 P.J. Gardner. All rights reserved.
Video © 2014 Arjan Post. All rights reserved.

The weather in Rotterdam has been quite nice. We have spent pleasant afternoons sitting on the outdoor patio at Gerard and Diane’s house, enjoying their garden, sipping tea, conversing, and eating pastries. Whenever everyone notices me falling asleep sitting up, Arjan and I move to our Novotel in a nearby business area called “Brainpark”.

Gerard & Diane’s House in the Alexander Polder

Arjan, Diane, and Gerard in the Garden

The Novotel is an extremely modern hotel, where the default language is English–and it is not too far from the extremely modern house of our friends Gerard and Diana in the Alexander suburb of Rotterdam, where the default language is Dutch but we spend a lot of time conversing in English anyway. (This visit, I have been lazier than ever even trying to speak Dutch. I think at this point in my life it is hopeless.)

Two of the evenings in Rotterdam, we also ate on their back patio, enjoying Diane’s healthy dinners among the beautifully tended gardens of all-white flowers and watching the coots feeding their young in the sloot (a typical Dutch manicured ditch) along the back edge of their yard.

Backyard and Sloot at Gerard & Diane’s House

On Wednesday, July 30, we drove to downtown Rotterdam, in sight of the famous Erasmus Bridge, for dinner at the Wereld Restaurant (attached to the eclectic Wereld Museum). The food, exquisite by any standards, consisted of many elegant tastings and creatively conceived courses, all for a cost no more than some of our pricier restaurants at home.

Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam

Elegant Dessert at the Wereld Restaurant

Thursday, July 31, the four of us took a daytrip in Gerard’s 1966 Cadillac into the countryside to visit a medieval castle, Slot Loevestein.

Gerard’s 1966 Cadillac

Slot Loevestein

Diane and Gerard at Slot Loevestein

At this time of year, many of the restaurants in Holland are closed for vacation, so we ended up at a hotel chain restuarant in Ridderkerk, called “Van der Valk”. Gerard’s Cadillac was the longest car in the parking lot!

Long Cadillac (by Arjan Post)

On Friday, August 1, Arjan and I visited a huisarts (general practitioner) to get a prescription for an antibiotic and nasal spray for me. While we waited for the appointment time, we visited the Kralingse Bos (a forest planted in the 1920s, where the trees are getting quite tall and there are separate paths for walkers, horses, and cyclists and motorbikes). It was very pleasant to sit among the trees and watch people walking by with their dogs and on their bikes.

Sheep Grazing at Kralingse Bos

At the doctor’s office (the doctor, an attractive young Dutch woman), I got to sample the Dutch medical system. Significantly cheaper than a visit to a GP in the U.S., the entire episode cost us, including prescriptions and parking, less than 50 euros (about $67 USD). Think of how much that would have cost someone without insurance in the U.S.!

On Saturday, August 2, we checked out of our hotel and went back to Gerard and Diane’s to say goodbye. Then we headed to Kralingse Bos again to go to De Nachtegaal (The Nightingale) pancake house to meet Alie and John, who will be our hosts in Devon, England. We met them for lunch while they are here checking in on Alie’s brother, Mike, who lives in a group home here in Holland. It will be nice to see Alie and John again in about two weeks.

De Nachtegaal Pancake House in Kralingse Bos

After the lunch, we got on the highway in our rental car to drive to Amsterdam for the next phase of our Dutch journey. The distances here are amazing. Changing major cities is like driving from Boston to Nashua, New Hampshire. Takes about an hour.

Photos © 2014 P.J. Gardner & Arjan Post. All rights reserved.