April 15th, we left for London, England, on the first leg of our 22-day trip. We made our way up to Big Hill and a local pub along the River Lea with all its canal boats. Stephanie had arranged for an iconic birthday cake: Colin the Caterpillar. (Standard fare at British birthday parties, or so it appears!)

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Early Sunday morning, we were off on the Eurostar through England, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The first night was spent in Utrecht, and then it was on to Wormerveer. There, we were introduced to mustard soup—a Dutch delight (recipe below)—by friends who drove us on a charming, circuitous route to Medemblik, the ancestral home. Many Dutch towns have a street called Kaasmarkt (Cheese Market). We visited a few, eventually making it to the Kaasmarkt in Medemblik and our hotel.

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The tulip fields and windmills were in full display. Our cousins treated us very well with trips to the tulip gardens, plus dinners, lunches, and breakfasts. From there, we crossed the Afsluitdijk, a long dyke that separates the North Sea from the giant inland lake, the IJsselmeer.

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Marja, Sonja and her daughters took us in for the weekend.

Toni and Alex decorated their kitchen in honour of Doug’s actual birthday. The following Monday, we set off for the boat, the Tigris. The two-hour orientation on the water was very helpful, and from then on, it was canals, boats, and more boats! We even learned a docking system that was foreign to us involving lassoing pillars.

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Our favourite place was Grou, a small town first inhabited in 1000 AD on a man-made mound. The local bakery started in 1635! We used the town as our home base.

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It was all over much too fast. We made our way back to Amsterdam on National Remembrance Day. At 8:00 PM, everything in the country stops for two minutes to remember the fallen. In the restaurant where we sat near Central Station, the hubbub of that very busy place stopped completely. No one made a sound. It was incredibly moving.

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The next day was Liberation Day, a big party day... but we had to leave.

 

The last images we saw were of the Annapolis River and Shubie from the air.