After saying goodbye to our family in Amsterdam, we caught the lovely quiet train to Leiden, where we were just in time for the church service in the huge old Reformed Church. The service was held in a smaller (but large) chapel because heating the whole church is out of the question. Of course, we could not understand a word, but noticed both the minorah and bread and wine represented on the alter. The minister was very animated and we wished we could understand him. During coffee hour later we asked him to send us a copy on email, which he has done but we still need to translate it to english....haven't found the right button yet! Lots of talks with folks around coffee as they all speak English. It is so easy for us to be in the Netherlands because of that. After leaving the church, we discovered a great museum...Stedelijk Museum, a combination of history and art. Dutch painters, dutch tiles. Strolling along the main street we had our pick of lunch spots...Delifrance....where we ate savory French pastries. Back to the train as we had made reservations in a hotel in Delft.
We wound our way around construction and finally found our hotel. 3 nights on a small canal very in the old city. We took walks many times. To museums of course, (we have seen so much good art already). This is where Vermeer was born and died. He loved this city and stayed here to work. Also dipping in and out of shops. Modern furniture, kitchen, bakeries, fresh fish, cheese. There is a very nice tradition of providing a coupon for coffee and a treat each time we bought a ticket to a museum.
On to Rotterdam where we had a great experience with Corrie, our Servas host, actress; journalist, Reiki practioner and co-councillor...and rower. She lives in a lovely co-housing building and we took part a few times in happy hour with the other residents where we met her friends Bertus and Rea who took us on a walking tour of their neighborhood along with breakfast. We had a sleeping room with a bathroom. Corrie took such great care of us. Quite a fun and interesting lady. We became pretty close as we were there for about 5 days. She spent a day with us in the city... on the harbor tour boat for a few hours and barely made a dent in the vast harbor area and then to the city museum. Home on the tram. We actually got pretty good on the tram making our way to the art museum and hanging out in a wifi (weefee, is how everyone pronounces it) coffee shop. Not many of them around. McDonald's has become our wifi center...sitting out in the parking lots. A new appreciative relationship with McDonald's! One evening we went with Corrie to a special group she attends monthly. It is a spiritual group that embraces both the Jewish and Christian religions, formed as a result of the sadness around the Jews being taken from Holland during the war. Though the Netherlanders hid many (Ann Frank) there is always the question...Did we do enough? This meeting was Friday night Shabot. Candles lit. Litergy read. A meal together. Prayers and shared experiences. Our new friends were Leo, Joke, Hetti, Nel, Martin, Robert and Pezzi, a Mesianic Jew. The feeling of this group was so similar to our dear Sunbow group in the Seattle area, about which we shared. Corrie is an amazing driver! David called her Opel car the little "Curb Jumper". The evening before we were to leave, David and I made gorgonzola pasta for Corrie, Rea and Bertus, who brought his guitar and we sang American and Dutch songs and drank a little wine. Bertus volunteered to drive us to the port to pick up our camper the next morning as it would have taken us all day to use public transportation and even then we would have done a lot of walking and most certainly, would have been lost! Such good dear people. Our lives have certainly been enriched by their friendship.
Our next focus was to find Jory Verwolf, not too far away in Ameida, the legendary and magic village in Holland where David's Verwolf family is from. Jory has received many American Verwolfs! Ameida is a beautiful well kept village. It is mostly streets of very old buildings and where they expanded they carefully kept to the same village feel. We did find Jory looking out for us at the window of his pretty house. He was so very gracious. A very nice looking man about 55 years old with a wife, Elspeth and three grown children who have given them grandchildren (one brand new one whom Elspeth was away helping out with). They all live in Ameida and have for their whole lives. Jory says..."What more would I want?" He is so content and travel to anywhere is so close. Jory served his area for two terms as alderman and is very involved in his church (We were told it is in the "Bible belt" of the Netherlands). He and Elspeth were given land from her father where they built their simple cozy home which is beautifully painted inside with greys and white and tastefully decorated. After a long chat and lunch, Jory took us to the large old church he attends where we were shown David's grandfather John's name in the Baptism record book. Very meaningful. And in the cemetery we saw Verwolf names, the most recent of which was Jory's father. Home again for tea. Jory had found a tape in his father's things which David's father had sent. He played it for us. Just hearing his father's voice again was a gift, but when he started talking about his sons I could not hide the tears. We have that tape and will copy and share it with the Verwolf family when we get home. Thank you for everything Jory:
Some thoughts and observations:
> I am working on a keyboard that is not set up like I am used to... in the wrong place... period, comma, A, M, W, !, @ and more! As you can imagine, it slows me down a bit!
> Chris, we could not have made it to our destinations without the updated GPS. Though sometimes we would like to chuck it out the window! Thank you dear nephew.
> Jackie and Debbie, I saw a bunch of rabbit hutches built in "cute" styles, much the same as bird houses. A theme?
> We saw our first storks.
> We got a parking ticket for €55! Thought Bob Mostek might like to hear that!
> Our license plates from Washington State cause quite a sensation. I think we are pioneers in shipping our camper here for vacation!
> Driving can be exhausting as can navigating! It is easier in the countryside.
> We bought a phone but we really don't need it. Each country needs a new chip put in and your telephone number changes. We have more luck with the laptop but it is difficult to find wifi when we need it.
> Sleeping spots have been easy to find, usually free in the town center residence streets. In parking lots it is usually free between 7 pm and 9am
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