Afscheid Nederland

Well, okay, I think we’ve reached the end of the travelogue.  Probably a huge sigh of relief on your part, and now can maybe get back to food related things.   I met a lady at a function a week or so ago who was enthused about seeing my Bottom Feeder “food blog”.  IF she is still reading it, I promise I’ll return to form soon.

As you roll the trip around in your mind with some distance now between reflection and the journey itself, you start to ponder what will stick with you.  Sometimes you come up with things that surprise you.  For me, recognizing the beauty of Tulips will always stand out, but also will a little visit to the town of Hoorn, and a particularly pleasant experience there.

I think in a previous edition I mentioned that Hoorn marked our northernmost point of interest, about thirty kilometers north of Amsterdam.  According to the documentation, it began around 720, and evolved into a very important trade center.  The famous Dutch East India Company located its home base there.  I believe George Calvert (the first Lord Baltimore) did pretty well by investing in them.   Anyway, Hoorn is a typical Dutch port village with the usual canals and boats of various types.

And also architectural features like the famous “Hoofdtoren” built in 1532, still standing over the harbor

And the West Frisian Museum

And while the group was gawking and learning about those things, of course I wandered a bit and found a nearby restaurant of the same name as the Hoofdtoren building.

Mr. Moody!  We're leaving!!

We continued walking around the town which was full of what used to be warehouses for a famous product

Also saw some interesting stuff in the homes we passed

and residents looking at us looking at them

And lots of little shops..  guess what these are for!

We were told that part of our tour of Hoorn would include a “home visit” with some local folks.  Old me: "yeah, sure some touristy place with fake stuff and maybe an interpreter in costume".  Once again, wrong-o wise bottom feeder!   It turned out to be maybe the one thing I will always remember about our whole trip!

We were to bust up our little group of about twenty into smaller groups for the “home visits”, so that took a little milling about

There’s that lady in the yellow slicker again, my beacon and guardian..

After the logistics got sorted out, we were taken to a row of buildings and houses along a canal

Our host lived above the bakery he once owned and worked in

The sign above the door translates to “Bread and Pastries”   

We entered the side door to the right and a circular staircase led to their lovely little apartment overlooking the canal

I didn’t take too many interior pictures trying to respect their privacy (and avoid the ugly American tourist image).  We all sat around their little table his wife had set with freshly made goodies and tea and coffee

They were very easy to talk to, and soon it was just like visiting your neighbors.  He had a fascinating life, mostly as the baker (from which he retired, too hard!), but also did work with autos at one time.  They even hauled out pictures of their kids and grandkids, just like we would.

As you might remember, choral singing is very popular in the old world as we found out on our trip to Wales, and the Dutch are no different.  Turns out he sings with a group called “Shantymen Kaap Hoorn’ who perform mostly sea related songs.  If you click to the website, the person on the right side of second row was our host.  You might notice on the table picture above some CD’s laid out.  After a bit of urging he brought them out, and MFO and I bought a couple

Soon it became time to rejoin the group and he and his dog accompanied us back into the street.  The old dog was pretty much blind but didn’t mind being scratched.

It was a very rewarding visit, actually felt like you met real people, not tourist attractions, just a wonderful couple (of course I didn’t write down their names (including the dog’s)).

So we parted ways as he took his pet for a stroll along the canal.  Kind of symbolic of leaving...

And soon enough our view of the Netherlands faded into memories

Funny thing about these kinds of trips, you get sort of caught up in the “WHAT time do we have to be at the bus?”;  “It’s how far away?”; “my knees hurt!”; “where’s the camera?”; and so forth but then you get home and those thoughts fade into memories of tulips, pastries, and the dog.  Sometimes I fell like you go on the trips to get things into the memory banks to relish later.

Thanks to the Cole Travel folks and Viking cruises for providing deposits in the memory banks.  This fall:  Ireland.

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