Letter from Amsterdam 8 May

Today was our big road trip around the Netherlands, or part of it anyway. Ostensibly we were off in search of the Van Halsema heritage sites which tended to lay north and east of Amsterdam.

After breakfast we had our car brought round and the four of us were soon off with GPS leading us out of the city and north. Our first stop was Edam. For me one of my first recollections as a child of cheese was either Edam or Gouda, that red waxy wrapped cheese that filled every grocery store in the midwest. Anyway, Edam was a lovely little town and we enjoyed a stroll through it and yes we did buy some cheese.

somewhere between Volendam and Edam looking out onto Markermeer Lake

From Edam we returned to the highway and continued north eventually crossing the Afsluitdijk. Running for some 30kms and separating the Ijsselmeer from the Waddeneilanden and the North Sea this dike has been keeping  a large part of the Netherlands free from flooding since the 1930s. We stopped briefly -- very briefly since every Mayfly on the planet had just hatched nearby -- at the observation tower along the causeway to appreciate the scope of this incredible structure.

Once across the causeway we turned north once again and stopped for lunch in the picturesque harbor town of Harlingen. Strolling the small streets of this lovely town (lovely seems to be the word of the day) we found the perfect place for lunch: De Tjotter where we all had the fish-and-chips. Scrumptious.

After lunch we walked down to the harbor before returning to the car. Once back on the highway we made our way to Nijeveen, the birthplace of Emo Van Halsema, Susan’s maternal grandfather.

Our search was focused on the gravesite of Emo’s parents and two of his siblings and while we were frustrated at first by the simple fact we began in the wrong cemetery, our subsequent search of a second church and graveyard panned out. As we walked through the small cemetery Susan observed how many family names are commonplace in western Michigan.

From Nijeveen we continued south to Loosdrecht and the home of Susan’s relatives, Sofia and Marcel Stel. They had kindly invited us all to their house for aperitifs and dinner.

aperitif time in Loosdrecht!

Sofia and Marcel's daughter and Sofie's brother Jap

Marcel and Sofia

Following a delicious dinner of nasi goreng (another Indonesian specialty) the evening seemed to fly by and before long we had to bid our hosts adieu — our car had to be back to the valet service by 10pm or otherwise we’d have to look for street parking or worse.

Our GPS again came through and we had the car back in front of the hotel by 2145 with time to spare.