Johnny's parents left Holland in 1967, leaving behind all of their relatives. The last time Johnny visited was in his early 20's and he doesn't remember much. From the very beginning we knew we would be travelling to Holland to visit aunts, uncles and cousins that he hasn't seen in a very long time. Most of the family still lives in the small village of Vroomshoop (population 7000), about an hour and a half east of Amsterdam. A beautiful, typical, Dutch town with a canal, a small downtown and oodles of bike trails.
No hotels or Airbnb's here, but Johnny's aunt managed to find us an amazing B&B in a picturesque neighbourhood. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE has the most pristine gardens you have ever seen, pride of ownership is apparent everywhere we went. The next few days were some of the most relaxing on this whole trip. Lots of visits, meeting and getting reacquainted with relatives and lots and lots of food (omg I LOVE Kip Kerrie!)
 |
| The girls met 5 new cousins! All around the same age, it was amazing |
 |
| Some of the crew from Johnnys mom's side |
Johnny's uncle Oma Jan, is a retired firefighter in Holland with 40 years of service...he runs the firehall museum and town and there is even a street named after him! Not too shabby!
 |
| The firehall museum |
 |
| The street Jan Jensen (see a resemblance?? I totally think he looks like Johnny) |
We also met Johnny's dad sister Lucy and her daughter Linda, another great time with family...and Linda let us go for a ride in her sweet car!
We had to say goodbye to the family and got the traditional Dutch send off...
We decided to stop in the beautiful city of Deventer on our way to Utrecht. One of Johnny's cousins lived there and offered to tour us around his beautiful city. Another lovely European town, with a gorgeous square, cathedral and homes that dated back hundreds of years (the oldest house in the Netherlands is in Deventer).
 |
| Meeting Gerjo |
 |
| Deventer Sqaure |
We had another special treat. Gerjo takes care of the cathedral in town and was able to give us a behind the scenes look. We were able to tour up stairs and see all the hidden secrets in this wonderful building. He also let the girls play the church organ then surprised us all with his mad skills.... (Gerjo impressive's Organ skills )
 |
| This is above the vaulted ceiling |
 |
| Entry to the bell tower |
We loved Deventer so much, and felt like we did not spend enough time there, Gerjo told us there was a huge street festival, so we came back a few days later...The whole place had a very Mardi Gras feel, with buskers performing throughout the square...
We left Deventer and headed to Utrecht. We were having trouble finding reasonable accommodations in Amsterdam (everything was at least 250+ a night, what a crazy expensive city!). Johnny's cousins, Andre suggested we stay in Utrecht- a ton to offer, much cheaper, very beautiful and close enough to Amsterdam by train we could make day trips. What an awesome decision (thanks Andre). We loved Utrecht. We had a great time exploring the city. Andre took us out, (we rented bikes of course) and tooted around to some of his favourite spots.
 |
| gotta love the houseboats on the canals |
 |
| A working windmill in the city |
 |
| a beautiful stop along the canal |
 |
| Johnny and Andre |
The next day went went into Amsterdam. I really wanted to see the Anne Frank house (we had to book tickets a few weeks before as they sell out fast). After visiting Normandy, the girls have a pretty good idea about what happen in WW2, so it was amazing to see how engaged they were at the Anne Frank house. There is a new museum attached and we opted to have a 30 minute info session before we toured the house. It was so well done...and so very sad... The girls were quite moved, even Anneka in her own way, understood how awful this was.
 |
| the house in the 1940's |
 |
| this is the house today, you enter from the museum around the corner and it takes you up the stairs through the back of the house where the annex was |
We spent the rest of the day walking around Amsterdam, such a great city, but very busy...
Over the next few days we visited the smaller but stunning city of Haarlem...
 |
| Haarlem |
...and went to the Zaanse Schans- the beautiful area with all the windmills
The girls and I went back into Amsterdam to check out the most amazing Science Centre- Nemo, while Johnny went to explore The Hague (or Den Haag)
 |
| Den Haag |
 |
| The Nemo Science Museum |
 |
| in the middle of a bubble |
On suggestion of our friends we checked out the Castle De Haar (just outside Utrecht). What a place. Probably one of the nicer castles we have seen. Apparently all the who's who of the 1950's and 60's spent a lot of time partying here, as was evident in all the pictures throughout.
 |
| the front entrance- meant to impress |
 |
| The baroness's room |
A stop in a new city wouldn't be complete unless we went to a playground- The Europeans really know how to build them!
Johnny took the morning and went to the Rietveld Schroder house- made a UNESCO Heritage site in 2000, an architectural marvel- built in 1923. This place looks like it could have been built yesterday.
 |
| crazy to think this house was built almost 100 years ago |
After 10 very busy, fun filled days we had to say good bye to our family in Holland. It was so great to be able to meet everyone and share with the girls this part of their heritage.
We rented our car in Paris just over 3 weeks ago. It was much cheaper to drive it back and fly out of Charles de Gaulle, then to leave it in the Netherlands and fly to London from there. Only a four and half hour drive, and 4 countries later and we arrived at the airport on our way to our last and final destination before going back home.
Very mixed emotions about this...YIKES!
