Our Trip

Okay...we've been home for 1 week, and I finally have some time to blog about our trip! Warning, this a long detailed blog entry!

So, we left for Holland on Monday evening, flying through the night. In reality, we were arriving in Holland at 4 in the morning our time, but it was 10 am there. Jason and I both slept on the plane, giving us the feeling that we actually had a 'night', and were arriving Tuesday morning. It worked great, and it's a good thing that we had rested, because when we arrived...we were whisked off to a "welcome" party at my Uncle Nic's House. I was shocked that so many relatives were there! (I'll list them for the family members who are reading this: Nic and Tessa, Will and Ieteke, Govert, Elles and her husband, Els and Martin (Kimberly), Bertha, Chantal, Saskia (Arjan's wife). I think I got em all....

After the party, we had a 2 hour nap in our room. Our room! That was such a blessing! Uncle Nic's condo complex has "guest suites". It's ultimately a high end hotel room...private room, bath, even housekeeping. It was only 50 euro a night, which is about a third of what a hotel of the same caliber would have cost us! Here is the video:

After the nap, we were picked up by Els and Martin, and went to their house for a BBQ. Having an outdoor grill is a relatively new concept for the Dutch...but it's catching on. They made us a great meal, and we got to chat a bit. Els and Martin lost their sweet 17 year old son Steph in the fall. He was killed by a 'texting driver' who wasn't watching the road, and slammed into him full speed as he crossed the road. So you can imagine what kind of grief and loss they are experiencing. Actually, I can't imagine. I look at my daughters and think of what it would be like to lose one of them...its unimaginable...a nightmare that you can't wake up from. Anyway, our time with them was very precious.

That was the end of the FIRST day!! Busy, but fantastic!!!
Wednesday, we took the bus from Heemstede (Nic's house) to Haarlem. We spent most of the day there. My favorite stores were Hema, Blokker, and of course V&D...where we sipped a coffee on the top floor, with a view of the whole town. Actually,

we had coffee all over Haarlem! We'd walk, talk, stop for coffee...keep walking, shop, talk, laugh, have a snack, have more coffee...it was heaven!! Haarlem is my favourite place to visit. It's quaint, beautiful, fun, great shopping, wonderful people, not too busy, and where my parents first met.
I stood in front of the house where my Mom spent her teen years. I was choked up quite often there. I'd look down at the step, and think "She walked here...as a kid..." what moved me was the thought that som

eday she will be gone, but this 300 year old house will remain...and this will be a piece of her. It was very moving.

When we woke up on Thursday, we looked at each other and decided that what we really wanted to do was go back to Haarlem again. And so we did. More Kroketjes, Poffertjes, coffee, and walking. It was raining that day, but it actually didn't bother us! Rain in Holland was more like a mist...or light rain. And it never rained for more than 45 minutes. We bought golf umbrellas, and walked happily through the town square, having a ball.

Friday we went to Amsterdam. Uncle Nic put us on a hover craft (boat) that zooms down a large shipping canal, all the way there. It was around a 20 minute boat ride. It rained quite heavily on the boat, and for the first hour of our stay in Amsterdam...but then it cleared. Amsterdam is ....well...Amsterdam. It was very very busy. TONNES of tourists, people with luggage everywhere. It didn't feel safe like Haarlem had. We even had people doing drugs right in front of us. In fact, many of the public washrooms are flooded with BLUE light. We found out later that this is done so that intravenous drug users can't find a vein (because of the blue light) and then won't use the public restrooms as a place to shoot up and crash.

We walked to the YWAM base, where we met up with Robin...it's director. From there we walked to their ministry house in the Red Light District. We chatted for a bit, told our story of Exodus Cry, and then went on a heartbreaking walk thru the red-light district. Jason kept his eyes on the ground, and we were directed to walk silently, and just pray. I can't describe how heart breaking it is to see young women...some barely adults, selling their bodies in a window. I didn't know what to do. Do I look? Smile? Wave? Do I pretend I don't see them? Ignore them? Which was giving them more dignity? Was smiling weird? After a while I decided that I'd treat them as I'd treat someone selling shoes. I'd smile. Acknowledge them as women, as people...and pray my guts out for them. We had planned to stay in Amsterdam for dinner, and take the train back later in the evening...but we had had enough.

We got on a train and headed...you guessed it...for Haarlem. We ate dinner and got home in time for an early bedtime.

Saturday morning, my Aunt and cousin came by, and we all had coffee at Nico's house

Soon, our friends Geert and Inge (and their 3 adorable kids) came to get us. We were leaving Heemstede/Haarlem for good...and I was choking back tears. My Aunt Bertha hugged me for a long time. She has the kind of hugs that hurt like heck...she squeezes waaay too tight (Just like my Mom!!) And that made me cry even more. Living so far away from the rest of our family, its just such an amazing thing to see a group of people who look, act, talk, laugh, or hug like your Mom. When I was in the car, I rolled down the window, and Bertha reached in and with the back of her hand, gently rubbed my cheek. Just the way my Mom does. That was it...the tears just rolled. It was so amazing to be with my family...a crazy bunch of people who I feel I just 'fit' with. It's family. And it was awesome.

We said goodbye and headed to Zaanse Schans, a little village that boasts a slew of windmills. We walked through the town, and got a tour of a real working windmill. It was really cool! This is one of my fav pictures of our trip. You can see the windmills in the background, the water and the typical Dutch sky. Classic. I was so happy to be there...

Sunday we went to church with Geert and Inge, and Jason was invited to speak. He was going to share about Exodus Cry, but the holy spirit was moving so much in the service, at the last minute, Jason felt the Lord direct him to change everything he had planned to say! He did so great, and it was the first time he had ever spoken with a translator. I was very proud of my Jay-bear!!!!! We also sang at the end.

Later in the afternoon we headed our for a little tour of Maassluis (the tow

n where Geert and Inge live), some gelati, and a trip to the beach. Fun times!

Monday we went to Delft. Ever seen all that blue dutch pottery? It's called Delft Blue, and it's made in this town. Delft artists must attend the delft art school to come away with a certificate that authorizes them to be genuine "delft" artists. It was really really cool. We walked through the town with Geert, eating potat with pindasaus (Fries with peanut sauce...seriously...sooooo good!), fresh hot stroopwafels, and really anything else we could find to snack on!! :)

Tuesday we left for Paris. Geert and Inge decided to join us, and left their kids with Inge's parents. We drove through Belgium, and it took around 5-6 hours to get there. Belgium felt alot like Saskatchewan: You drive through, on your way to somewhere else. haha. We didn't stop until we had hit France.

The hotel in Paris was SO cute! I was thrilled! I had researched online for a long time to find it, and was NOT dissapointed!

It was in Montmontre, a hill in Paris, upon which the Sacre Coeur was perched. Its a magnificant church that is surrounded by tonnes of shops and restaurants. Very touristy, but definately my favorite part of Paris by far. We went up the Eiffel tower, even though it meant waiting in line for 2 hours, and then taking another hour to go up and down again. The lines were INSANE!! (Yeah...who woulda thought that there would be more people taking their summer vacation in Paris?? heh heh)

Wednesday we did the Eiffel tower, and Thursday we visited the Palace of Versailles. It was breathtaking!! So gorgeous!!

The funnest part for me was our evening meal. In france, they eat around 8 or 9pm. So we'd nap from 4 until 7:30, and then start walking...looking for a cute place to eat. Wine was always cheaper than pop, so that was the drink of choice with the meals! I don't enjoy wine, so I'd order water.

Ok...so lets have some fun with the prices. In Paris, a cup of black coffee was 4 Euro. That's $6 CDN, folks!! Dinner ran you around $15 Euro per person. ($23.00 CDN) And that was an inexpensive meal. It turned out that you could get the most 'bang for your buck' at good ol, McDonalds...where we could both eat a big meal for $15 Euro.

Haarlem was less expensive. Coffee was only 2 euro ($3.00 CDN) per cup. Oh yeah...and NO refills!!! If you ordered a diet coke, you got a teeny tiny bottle, and that's all you got! And it cost about 4 euro. (as seen in the picture...the bottle was the size of my hand)

Friday morning, Geert and Inge drove us to the airport in Paris, and we flew home (via Frankfurt, Germany)

The trip was amazing in every way. Jason and I had a blast, and it was so fun to see Jason speaking Dutch! He got a hug from me everytime he'd say something Dutch...so there was alot of huggin happenin! It was the trip of a lifetime, and the perfect way to celebrate 15 years of marriage!!

Oh...and to those who asked...our girls stayed here in Ottawa with my dear friend Vikki....known to the girls as Auntie Vikki, and her hubby Mr. Jon. (Since Jason's brother is Uncle Jon, we started to call Vikki's Jon 'Mr', and it totally stuck!) They had such a great time...and I feel so incredibly blessed to have a friend who would do that for me. I mean...who would take 2 little girls for 10 days...spending their vacation days to do it!?!?! See? Seriously...she's amazing.

Thank you Vikki....you amaze me!! This simply would NOT have been possible without you! I love you!