Willothewisp

Archive for the ‘Holland’ Category

Delft is a beautiful little city, a town really given how it feels when you are in it’s centre.  It  had been some years since we had visited the city but we have some wonderful memories of a lovely passionate week spent in it, so Tyjardia and I took our children there for a couple of days. Delft is actually well positioned geographically if you also want to explore Rotterdam and Den Haag as it lays half way between the two. In fact, given the small size of our country in this case half way means that the town is reached by the urban transport systems of both major cities with train and bus lines direct to Rotterdam and a very efficient tram service direct to the heart of Den Haag as well as train of course. The beauty of this is if our two teenage boys got bored we could pack them off on the tram to Den Haag and the beach at Scheveningen to pose on the beach and oggle the girls, boys will be boys ! For our daughter we made the promise of a trip to Madurodam, Hollands smallest city, literally. Madurodam is a model of our country in miniature, always a favorite with children.

Delft is a fine example of the most typical of Dutch architecture and city design. It is criss-crossed with canals that keep the town dry and mimmick the much larger network in Amsterdam, so in a sense it is a more compact and less crazy version of Amsterdam, just much more user friendly. It is a delightful shopping centre if you want to escape the big chain stores with many small independent retailers and craft/art shops.  Delft is also a great place if you like antiques (or junk) because of the enormous market the town has. For those with an interest in European history then Delft is full of it. Delft was the headquarters for William of Orange during the 80 Years War with Spain, and is the resting place of the kings and queens of The Netherlands.

If you want one final and over riding reason to visit Delft then there is Johan Vermeer. Johan Vermeer was  born in Delft in 1632 and died there in 1675 and in between he painted, but, he painted the most beautiful and glorious paintings and seeing the town that formed that talent is a must.

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If you want to learn and see more about Delft then please see our delft page here.

Author: Nonke.

We have spent a nice restful week at our dacha on the Waddenzee island of Terschelling, and while I was not allowed to do very much it did make foir a nice break and to spend time with the rest of the family. Our children are going to stay on here another week with my parents and cousin while Nina and I return to Maastricht as I have more tests to do. If you would like to see a little more of the Waddenzee and Terschelling please visit our pages:

1. Waddenzee
2. Terschelling

Download the full picture (800×700) here.

Read more on the Waddenzee here.  Read more on terschelling here.

It was a holiday weekend here in Holland, “Koninginnedag” , which normally is a happy little holiday with a chance for children to sell and swap toys, for teens and youngsters to drink and party and generally let go and for the rest to just meet family enjoy a good meal or two and slightly more wine than is good for us. This holiday we had some friends here to visit with their children for the weekend.

Sadly this year’s holiday was marred by a crazy guy in Apeldoorn trying to attack our Royal Family. Four people were killed on the spot when 38-year-old Karst T. drove his car through a crowd that had come to greet the royal family in Apeldoorn on Queen’s Day. Three others have died of their injuries since including Roel Nijenhuis, a member of the Royal Marechaussee, the Royal Military Police force. Of the ten who were injured, two are still in critical condition.
Traditionally our Royal Family have been pretty open and always ensured that they remained in close contact with the people, including physical contact with people and crowds. On such holiday days as these security has been very low key so we are not used to such horrid happenings here. This is not America with all of its violence and oppressive law enforcement so this has come as a big shock to our little nation.

In this country our ministers ride around on bicycles like the rest of us. Many ministers cycle between meetings in Den Haag with no thought for “security”, no bullet proof, gas guzzling cars here. When I was a child our long serving Prime Minister Vim Kok was well known for packing his whole family into his Austin Maxi car, hitching up the family caravan and touring around without any security people. I know this because on one of the few holidays I had with my parents we ran into him in Devon in England one summer, I recall it well still able to see him and my father talking, Wim in flip flops and grubby chinos!

I hope this attack by a crazy man will not change how we behave in this country, and more importantly how our institutions like the Royal Family behave. It is important that those in high office remain in touch with their people, not cut off an isolated behind bullet proof armour and glass because as we see from other countries this just instils an elitist mentality to those in office and give them ideas above what they should always keep in the front of their minds – they represent us and desreve no more protection than any other citizen.

On Friday at the Grote Kerk in Apeldoorn, thousands of people have took part in a contemplative service to mark the events of Queen’s Day, led by Apeldoorn Minister Rob Visser. In addition to prayers and the singing of psalms, the service also included a minute of silence for the victims. An official remembrance service for the victims of the Queen’s Day attack on the royal bus in Apeldoorn is to be held Friday 8 May in the town’s Orpheus Theatre. The mayor of Apeldoorn, Fred de Graaf, said that members of the royal family would definitely attend.

Author: Nina

 

Home from our little trip to the UK and you know how it is – unpacking, getting clothes sorted into piles for washing, writing thank you letters to our hosts, getting the children’s scrapbook on the trip updated with them ready to show it at school, busy, busy, busy. While all this is going on there is the rush to get ready for Koninginnedag tomorrow (30^th April).

 Koninginnedag  or Queen’s Day in Holland does not mean that we have a big Gay Pararde by the homosexual community here, we use the word “Queen” in it’s more traditional sense. “Koninginnedag”, in English the “Queen’s Day”, is a celebration in the Netherlands on April 30. Originally it was a celebration of the queen’s birthday, it is now mainly known for the “vrijmarkt”, literally “free market”, the one day in the year that anyone is allowed to sell anything in the streets of Holland. The day is proceeded by “koninginnenacht’, “Queen’s Night”.

The holiday started as a celebration of the birthday of Queen Wilhelmina (1880-1962), on August 31^st but after the war Koninginnedag moved to April 30 which was the birthday of dear Queen Juliana and has remained the ‘official’ celebration day ever since. During the reign of Queen Juliana, the Queen would welcome people who came to the Soestdijk Palace where the Queen and her family would greet a long line of citizens who would congratulate her and present her with gifts. Today the event has evolved into a visit by the queen of one or two towns where she is shown traditional Dutch dances and demonstrations of old crafts.

koninginnenacht & Koninginnedag are typical occasions for “oranjegekte” or orange craze, when the colour orange is a ubiquitous sight (see the photos here). The orange refers to the name of the Dutch royal family, the House of Orange. Everything is orange including banners, foods, drinks, and extreme amounts of orange clothing, even hair is often dyed orange and last year I recall Nina gave our two guide dogs orange coats of dye for the day! Impersonating the Royal family, and not always in a flattering manner, is also very common. The “vrijmarkt” is free of taxes and regulation so people use it as a chance to sell off old junk and unwanted gifts and clothing. Many children use it as a chance to sell off old toys.

If you would like to see photos of some previous Koninginnedag then please visit our main site here.

Author: Judith

What a summer!

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Tomorrow (Saturday) our expanded family will return home after a lovely, long summer spent at our house on the coast. Our two eldest children will be starting a new term at school, and I will be returning to duty as my maternity leave comes to a close and so this amazing summer draws down into autumn.

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The summer started with me being heavily pregnant. I was big, round and full of our little daughter and able to just enjoy being, as they say, “With child”, and enjoy it I certainly did, I loved being pregnant. I loved how my wife’s family care for mothers and for the pregnant in particular, they see every pregnancy as a blessing and a celebration no mater the circumstances. Someone called me each day without fail to check I was alright, they all rally around and genuinely care. I was astounded and delighted by the changes to my body, even though I am a midwife myself and have seen it so many times in others to feel it myself was beautiful. The way the children took an interest in the pregnancy and wanted to enjoy it along with me made me so happy, the fact that they wanted a sister a much as we wanted another daughter was affirmation for me after growing up with parents who saw children as an obstruction and nuisance to the good conduct of their own selfish lives. With Judith I was able to be myself, and as myself we were able to enjoy my glorious surge in love, daily and often several times daily.

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I even enjoyed the birth, yes that is what I said, “enjoyed”. It was incredible, profound, and absolutely everything I hoped it to be. I never felt so much like I had achieved something as much as I did in the first few moments in our living room when Judith placed Mariaske fresh from my body onto my breast.

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Then there have been all the other major events this summer, such as people finding their voices. Our dear friend Nova found her voice and spoke out about the years of terrible abuse she endured as a child. She wrote about her journey and then honored us by giving us her story to publish to our “Violence” site. Her story has been cathartic in helping others in our women’s group find their voices as well. Our son found his voice and in the last two years has gone from deaf and mute to speaking. It has taken a lot of work, and more than a little heartache but seeing the utter relief on Judith’s face alone made it all worthwhile.

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Oli, the young girl from the Congo who we have sponsored here in the Netherlands for the last fours years reached eighteen. She is the pride and joy of her foster parents and is now out on her own, soon to be a Dutch Citizen and already working for the European Union despite being blind and largely deaf. She is a very brave young woman now really coming into her own.

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Judith’s parents last foster child, Jan, leaves home to start a career with the Koninklijke Marine and in doing so they will end over forty years of adoption and fostering. Their decision is well timed as we all start to make calls on their time in their role as grandparents. My sister in-law Carol announced her first pregnancy this summer shortly after the birth of Mariaske, she is going to make a fine mother, and is already a brilliant and much loved Aunt to our children.

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This summer has been a long slow introduction to our new daughter amongst the beauty of the Waddenzee and a seven week play date with our children. We have sailed, swum, hiked, flown kites, and explored. There have been children’s parties, beach bonfires, and grown up dinners, but now we must return to the world and deal with the challenges that await us

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So it has been quite a summer………….our Waddenzee Zommer

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Download: a ‘Waddenzee’ desktop wallpaper 25 photos on a 1280×1024 sheet

Read More: The Netherlands

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Author: Nina van der Roos