Random Pics 'cause I'm too lazy to write a whole long essay.

A Very Long Awaited Post.... With Pictures!

The Oosterscheld dijk

Canadian war cemetery in Groesbeek

The graves

Winter in the Netherlands.....

Lunch on the edge of the Rijn, watching the ships.

One section of the Oosterscheld dijk

Ruth-Ann and the bathroom that wanted to keep her..... IF lots of people comment, I MIGHT post the story :P

The old church in Rozenburg.

Lydia and Tom

Me being put to work:)

Martini toren in Groningen

Grijpskerk station, Jodie and Lydia

Train station in Barneveld

Oom Binne, Oom Mart, Lydia, Tante Elly

Groningen

Well, here we are at another stop on our journey. On Friday afternoon after a two hour train ride from Amersfoort to Groningen station we were welcomed by Lydia's second cousin: Jodie Kolbeek. she helped us find our way to their small town grijpskerk where we were warmly received by her family. (her parents and three brothers: Tom 17, Coen 14, and Neik 6) They live in an old dutch house on a tiny little street surrounded by other neat little row houses. It's the oldest "sub division" we've stayed in so far and absolutely storybook like! Friday was Jodie's birthday so once again we had a chance to meet more people our age. The Kolbeeks speek amazing english so its really nice for me. Lydia on the other had was having no problem with her dutch... her english however was suffering. she's my translator but she forgets and repeats everything back to me in dutch. its kind of funny because i've become extremely used to tuning out everything i don't understand.

Lydia and I commented to eachother a few days ago and said "you know what? being on holidays is great, but it would really be nice to do some regular house work." Well, Mrs Kolbeek must have known somehow that we said that, because I've already been through her kitchen and baked a huge tray of brownies and tonight Lydia, Jodie, Tom and i had the house to ourselves and prepared supper. The problem came when we had to make sauce. Jodie had never made sauce of any kind and figured that canadians probably know how to. Thanks to google we managed to find a recipe for sweet and sour sauce and once again I was able to acquaint myself with the cupboards. How on earth was I supposed to know that corn starch is "maizena" in dutch? Anyway, Lydia and I are feeling useful once more:)

Yesterday we went... well what we've been doing almost every day of our trip, we went the the "winkelstraat" this time in the ciry of Groningen. The shopping here is the best! we just have a little problem... our suitcases are full to bursting:P But that doesn't stop a pair of shopaholics let loose in a foreign country, even if it mean purchasing a new suitcase eventually.

Today we walked the two minutes down the road to the Kerk, but my dutch still leaves alot to be desired and I'm afraid I couldn't get very much out of the sermon. This afternoon I stayed home and listened to a CanRef church service by Rev. Holvluwer... IN ENGLISH!!!!! It was so refreshing! The weather has warmed up alot, no more ice and snow since friday! instead.... rain, oh joy:)

More Random Photos...

Ruth-Ann's favorite of all the water creatures! ...only the manitees can compete with a diver :)

Watching the 'fish'...

A whole school...

Ruth-Ann and her favorite cayman....

The barely visible manitee that we HAD to have a picture of :)

Us in the 'bush'

Tante Nel and Oom Binne and ME!!!

Jan Steenstraat 19... Oom Martinus' house where my Grootmoe used to live, and where we are staying now.

Bush and desert and fish!!!

a.k.a. Burgers' Zoo!



Stepping from the cold into a tropical rainforest... Ruth-Ann said it was Cuba all over again! All sorts of plants and trees and flowers... with crazy sounding birds, who, by the way, are quite tame and will walk pretty much right up to you!

Over that last two weeks I have learned a little about my darling traveling companion: She has a horrible weakness for *drumroll please* ...Eiffel towers and manitees! There were 2 manitees at the zoo and Ruth-Ann went crazy over them. Dissapointingly, they wouldnt come out of the water when she had her camera ready, so we have a few pictures of underwater manitees, which we might post... (for those who wish to make her happy... she wants a pet manitee and a scale model of an eiffel tower...!)

The desert was amazing, too. It was a sort of model of a North American desert. so it was COLD! and the plants and lots of the animals were in 'winter mode' but the peccaries were out and so were the vultures and the bighorn sheep. The fleetness of foot of the sheep was thrilling to watch and Ruth-Ann, Oom Binne and Tante Nel could tell you that I just about fell into their enclosure in my eagerness to watch 'that last jump'. :)

The aquarium was the most breathtaking of all. Thousands upon thousands of fish, big and small, brightly coloured and dull-ly marked, swimming in coral reefs or wrecks of ships.... We both really enjoyed that. Although I think we thought that the biggest creatures that we saw in the water were the coolest... the divers cleaning the inside of the foot thick glass! The last section was really cool.... glass tunnel through the aquarium! It was facinating! But those who know of my apathy for deep water will understand when I say I walked through it quickly, with my heart in my mouth. From the safety of the otherside I watched the stingrays slowly flap their way over peoples heads and laughed when they got a little too close for comfort. (random fact... did you know that their tails are almost 2 meters long?)

After the Zoo, we went to Tante Nel's place for supper... erwtensoup! met worst! Heerlijk!!!

Memory Lane...

The last few days here in Voorthuizen have been a trip down memory lane for me. The Tammingas were kind enough to drive us to Oom Mart's house. As we entered Jan Steenstraat, I eagerly started scanning houses... yes I knew it was #19, but I also knew it was near the corner on the right side of the street... and when I saw it, I knew without a doubt that I had been there before. It was almost exactly as I remembered it. Only one thing was missing... Grootmoe. Grootmoe was my great-grandmother. and I have memories of her in almost every room of the house. ...In the kitchen getting her very long hair braided by one of her daughters. ...sitting in the living room on the couch knitting a sweater for one of her many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. ...upstairs in the room where i am now, in the dark, looking at the stars. ...and in every room there is a picture of her.
Yesterday, we took the train to Utrecht. As we walked up to the station of Barneveld Noord(formerly known as Barneveld-Voorthuizen) I had the funny feeling that I had been there before. When we got on to the platform, I stopped in amazement. In my minds eye I had gone back about twelve years. I was five years old and Opa was teaching me to run backwards. On the platform of that train station. (for the record I still can run backwards fairly well... and yes I did try it again there, although the heels on my boots hindered the process a little)
Its amazing the memories I have of this place... for such a young girl. I am very blessed to have been able to return here and see everything again, and to make new memories.

A Few Photos

Ruth-Ann with a canal in the background, in Utrecht.



Lydia and Oom Binne

Barneveld Noord Station... where Lydia learned to run backwards.

Lydia, Ruth-Ann, Wim, Harm-Jan, Annerie, and Margreet.

Talo, Ineke, Wim, and Sharon

Margreet and Annerie's birthday party

Margreet, Annerie, and Lydia

Magreet, Ruth-Ann, and Annerie

Lydia, Talo, and Ineke

This past week has been amazing, our stay with the Tamminga family was so very special. We felt like we were members of the family just about right away. On Thursday. Mr. and Mrs. Tamminga took us to old Haarlem where we visited the Corrie Ten Boom house. The city of Haarlem is very old and traditional, exactly how I imagined a dutch city to look! Tall narrow row houses, quaint cobble stone streets lined with bicycles and canals with house boats frozen in place, yes, the canals are ice( Well, they were, it has warmed up somewhat in the past two days)!! Corrie Ten Booms house was very interesting and the “hiding place” is exactly how she describes it, except even smaller!! The impact of the war is still very evident in Haarlem, and our guide was an elderly lady that remembered when the Canadians liberated her home town. She thought it was very special Canadians and told us very passionately how thankful she is to her liberators! There was also a girl in our group from Michigan and she started talking to us in... ENGLISH!!! As funny as it might sound we were all so happy to hear perfect English!
The next day we went to “see the zee” the Dutchies get a real kick out of saying that for some reason? along with alot of other English/dutch sentences, such as... Annerie was telling us that their dominee looks like a hell’s angel because he has long hair, and Mrs. Tamminga thought she should explain quickly that “no no he’s not an angel from hell” it was too funny!!! The Nord Zee is beautiful, even in the winter when its freezing cold. I couldn’t get enough of it! The sand was partially covered with snow, the beach was almost completely deserted except for a few people walking their dogs, the wind and snow... I loved it?!
On Friday evening Annerie and Margreet had a birthday party at the church. We went during the afternoon and helped them set up the hall and prepared the food. The dutch really know how to throw a party!! Lydia and I got a chance to meet many of their friends that night, most of them had good English and were very outgoing so we had a blast!!!
Saturday was Sinterklaas!! Margreet took us to the winkelstraat in Haarlem and we bought gifts for everyone. Everyone buys one gift under 10euros for each person and then they write a poem. We didn’t write poems, (our dutch isn’t THAT good!) we received some very cute ones though? All in all it was a very gezellig evening, and we were treated as though we were part of the family. It was definitely very special to celebrate a “real” dutch Sinterklaas!
The last few days of our stay with the family sped by way too fast. Sunday we went to church with in Ijmuiden and in the evening we said goodbye to a few of our new friends, and then it was Monday and we were off to start a new leg of our journey. This time in Voorthuizen with a great uncle of Lydia’s.

Random Pictures

In front of the door to the Corrie Ten Boom huis

A chance meeting with Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet

In 'de geheime schuilplaats' ...'the secret hiding place' for you non-dutchies :)

So here we are in Velserbroek NL. On monday we left beautiful Paris for the quaint land of our ancestors. We left Paris Nord train station at about 10:25 and arrived in Amsterdam Centraal at 2:15, already the lanscape was so different from france. We had just started getting used to saying "merci" so the first time we used the metro in NL Lydia very politely said "merci" to the driver. Needless to say we've adjusted to "dank je wel". We are staying with the tamminga family, they have 4 children and Annerie is our age, actually its her birthday today!!! Lyd is amazing at dutch, me on the other hand... well lets just say its better than my french, we call it Dinglish! Annerie and Harmjan(14) are pros at their "engels" so its pretty easy to communicate, the first day here (monday) was english day, and yesterday was nederlands day, and today english, etc. etc.. Its cold... even for us canadians its COLD, and when the main mode of tranportation is your feet it feels even colder. Apparently its way colder then average for this time of the year, how convenient. Lydia came down with a sore throat and head cold, but for the rest it hasn't really stopped us very much. The first night here we ran around and had the first snowball fight of the year, cold, but super fun!! Margreet (19) and Annerie took us shopping in ijmuiden on tuesday, the streets here feel like you're in one of piet prins books or something, its so small and clean, and the food...!! Lydia has been quite shocked at how much i've managed to shovel down;)
Yesterday Annerie turned 17! She is at school during the day, but last night she had a bit of a party with the family, and the significant others, and her friend. It was very gezellig, and i'm able to follow the conversations now!!!

Comments....!?!?!?!

If you are reading this please PLEASE comment... We'd love to hear who's all reading our blog! Thanks,

Lydia and Ruth-Ann

Le troisieme jour

Today our highlight was Chateau Versailles. We took the metro and the RER(train) and navigated our way around Paris and the surrounding area like pros. Our trip there was fairly uneventful. Getting off the RER at the station nearest the Chateau, we followed the crowds to the magnificent enterance.





The sight was breathtaking! It was larger and more beautiful than I had ever imagined. As we made our way inside I was filled with awe. The interior was even more ornate and richly decorated that the outside. As we walked through the many halls and rooms, so many history lessons and stories came to me. THIS was where these people actually walked, and ate and slept. We saw the secret door in Marie Antoinette's bedroom, through which she could access the kings bedroom, and though which she fled during the revolution. We saw the hall of mirrors, and the peace and war rooms that flank it. We saw many many rooms with all sorts of different colour schemes, some were red or green or yellow or gold or silver...



The artwork on the ceilings in the various rooms was surreal. The work involved to paint all thoses ceilings must have been tremendous! The sculptures in each of the rooms were also very impressive. It was interesting to note that in the king's bedroom there was a bust of the king on the mantlepiece, and in the queen's room there was a bust of the queen. For me, it was wonderful to see the face of the inhabitant in his/her room.



As we came out of the back of the main Chateau and looked over the grounds. We thought, yes it was amazing, but we both had an overwhelming urge to drink MILK!!! Since landing in France we have had a little water, and tons of french coffee -which is amazing, by the way- and even some wine, but no milk... We wanted Canadian food. after 3 days :( at the end of the day we found a: ...MACDONALDS! and we were very self controlled and only ordered drinks.



The grounds were quite impressive, despite the fact that winter is fast approaching. We took a walk through the grounds on our way to Trianon. We stopped for lunch at a little stand by le Grand Canal and ordered food in our very best French.



Ruth-Ann is getting quite good at the whole French thing. First she figures out what she wants, then she second guesses herself. Then when she's finally figured out what shes gonna ask for, she turns to me and asks either: 'Can you order for me...?' or 'How do you say...?' But yes, our French is definately improving, and we're both getting better at trying to speak it, regardless of the fact we know we are making a total fool of ourselves.



We also went to le Grand Trianon and le Petit Trianon. These 2 smaller chateaux were used as 'his and her' residences for various reigning couples, the most famous being Marie Antoinette and her husband, Louis XVI.



After stopping off at Macdonalds, we took the RER and metro back to Richard and Elora's. For Ruth-Ann the trip was very eventful. First, she managed to manipulate the train/metro system so that she didnt need to pay for her ride home. ...and second, her wallet was stolen. Any donations to her worthy cause would be greatfully accepted.



The return trip was also very amusing. So it seems that, in Paris, it is common custom to make out with your significant other, where ever and when ever possible. This provides us with ample opportunity to smirk, roll our eyes and giggle... However, on the train ride home we saw a totally different and very much more amusing couple. They both came on to the RER and sat in seats opposite each other. She wanted HIM to sit beside HER, and he didnt want to move but wanted HER to come and sit beside HIM. So they sat there, each patting the seat they wanted the other to move to. She threw a hissy fit and kicked his seat. He grabbed her wrists and pulled her forward and kissed her and she got all pout-y. Yes, it was mushy and totally immature, but very entertaining after a long day :)



That evening we went to the Champs Elysees for the third time. This time we had a purpose... to find Ruth-Ann a new, and more secure, purse. We found one and had a very good time shopping. The highlight, though, was probably the troupe of breakdancers that we stumbled on. They were quite good and provided a more up beat form of amusement... and may I add this was like at ten o'clock at night!

Louvre, Eiffel tower, and Champs Elysee