In May and June, Aric and I spent a long holiday in Europe. Click here for an overview of what we did during those seven weeks. We visited Germany, England and Iceland, but of course we also spent time in the Netherlands, meeting family and friends. In this part 1, I will concentrate on our social activities. Part 2 will be about the tourist attractions we visited.

When our flight was landing at Schiphol Airport, the pilot announced that the ground temperature was 6° Celsius! We took a taxi to my apartment in Backershagen. It is located on the 13th floor and, even after not being inhabited for 6 months, it looked clean to me. Aric strongly disagreed and immediately started vacuuming to remove the dust.+

We went shopping at the nearby AH supermarket and had our first “Dutch” lunch. With many of my favorites, like herring, Gouda cheese, strawberries, buttermilk, etc.

An unpleasant surprise was that the central heating didn’t work properly. Even after inspecting the hallway cupboard and checking the bleed valves, we were only able to heat a few rooms.

Our first dinner, prepared by Aric.

The following day, we visited my soulmate Inez, who had invited us for dinner. We took public transport and walked, taking many pictures. Here are a few; the rest are in part 2. Aric was fascinated by the microcars, which have become trendy in the Netherlands, especially in Amsterdam. Easy to find a parking spot.

It was nice to meet Inez. We chatted and had a drink. Aric helped her with some computer stuff, and she had prepared a lovely dinner with traditional Dutch fare.

Back in my chilly apartment, we had to put on extra clothes to keep warm. I had contacted the management, but it would take a while before a technician could cone to see what the problem was.

As we had left my small backpack at Inez’s place, we collected it the next morning at the Rialto cinema, where she works one morning a week. We got a free drink “on the house”

I asked her if the poffertjes stall in the neighborhood still existed, but it was no longer there. Poffertjes are mini-pancakes, a traditional Dutch delicacy. She suggested having a kroket for lunch and mentioned the famous Van Dobben shop that I knew by name but had never visited.

We decided to go there by metro and walking. We passed another cinema, Tuschinski, the most beautiful one in Amsterdam, and one of the many cheese shops, many of them tourist traps, spreading like wildfire. New ones are no longer allowed in the city center.

We found the shop where we had our lunch. Popular with tourists, but authentic and of good quality.

My brother Pim had invited us for dinner. On our way, we again took many photos of Amsterdam. See part 2.

Another nice dinner, prepared by Pim. Seafood this time, with herring as a starter.

From 15 to 20 May, we visited Germany, a holiday within a holiday. Click on the picture for a detailed report.

It was a very interesting trip, although both of us were struggling with coughing and throat pain. When we came back, the fridge was full of ice because the freezer door didn’t close correctly. Already a problem for a few years. The heating was also not yet repaired, but fortunately the weather had improved, and inside the apartment the temperature was acceptable. We took some rest to recover from the trip.

The reunion of my family was planned for 23 May, one day before Whitsun. Pin and Nanda fetched us from Backershagen. First, we met siblings, nephews, and nieces at the family home in Alphen, where we had refreshments and chitchat.

Then we visited the cemetery where my parents’ grave is. Two brothers have passed away; the photo shows the four remaining “Stuivers”.

MY brother Otto had booked a table at an Afghan+ restaurant in Alphen. Interesting dishes.

After dinner, we walked back, passing the building where my late father was the director of an insurance company. I am pointing at where his office was.

A view of Alphen and the Rijn River. It is now called the Oude Rijn, but in Roman times it was the frontier of the Roman Empire, and Alphen (then called Albaniana) was a fortification, first mentioned in 40 AD. Nothing is left nowadays from its “glorious” past.

The next day (Whitsun), there would be crowds everywhere, so we decided to stay at home and just walk in Buytenveldert, the suburb of Amsterdam where my apartment is. Lots of greenery, a relaxing day. My Alma Mater, the Free University, is also located there; I am pointing at the window where I had my office for several years while working on my degree.

I forgot that the Monday after Whitsun is also a public holiday in the Netherlands. Our plan was to find a shop where we could have the poffertjes, but many shops were closed. Finally we found one, a but touristy, but nice pancakes. Many more Amsterdam pictures in part 2.

While shopping for our dinner, we found that there were still mussels, although officially the season was over. Small in size, but delicious.

The following day, we went for an outing to the famous windmills of Kinderdijk. Beautiful weather; detailed report in part 2. Back at home, we enjoyed a nice sunset.

When I am back in the Netherlands, part of my program is always a day trip with Inez. She asked, “Have you ever visited the Egmond Abbe?” I had not; we both thought it was a heritage ruin of a former monastery. We were mistaken; there has been a monastery in the past. Now there is a modern Benedictine monastery. Not really what we expected, we had coffee and then went to the caravan of Inez, where she prepared lunch for us.

After a relaxing afternoon, we went to IJmuiden where sometimes gigantic cruise ships pass the locks on their way to Amsterdam. But it was very quiet now. We had dinner there.

The last day before our trip to England and Iceland, we had a very busy day. Aric had found that there was a recently opened Apple museum in Utrecht, and as an Apple fan, he wanted to visit it. We decided to combine it with a visit to Yolanda and Math, who had visited us in Malaysia last year. The museum was interesting, and we had a nice lunch with them, we also walked around in the town, many more photos in part 2.

Back in Amsterdam, we met Nico and Yolanda, Paul’s brother and sister, for a drink, a chat, and an Italian dinner. It was really a busy day.

The next morning, we left for England and Iceland. Click on the photos for detailed reports.

When we came back from Iceland to my apartment, we had to defrost the fridge again. Aric had ideas on how to repair it, and my brother Otto had the tools and was willing to visit us. Together they managed to fix the problem almost completely! Otto stayed for lunch as a reward 😉

The next day, 15 June, Aric was supposed to fly back to Malaysia, while I would stay two more weeks. But during the last few weeks, I had found that my reduced eyesight (AMD) severely limited my independence. I worried about how to stay on my own for two weeks, so it was a huge relief when Aric told me he had changed his return flight and would also stay two more weeks.

To “celebrate” this, we made a day trip to Leiden. Aric thought he had never been to this heritage town, but during our visit he remembered a few places, so we had probably been there a long time ago. Anyway, a nice day with perfect weather; pictures in part 2.

The next day, we accompanied my brother Pim to an eye clinic where he would get a cataract operation. For years, he has been taking care of my Amsterdam apartment, so I was happy to help him out. After the operation, we went with him to his apartment, had coffee there, and then explored more of Amsterdam.

When Aric is in Amsterdam, he always likes to have a real Dutch pancake at the Pancake Bakery.

Over the next 10 days, we visited family and friends. Not enough time for everybody, I selected friends who had met Aric earlier. First, Roald and Stefan (forgot to take a picture). After we met them, we explored more of Amsterdam and had “lunch” with a real Dutch Apple Pie at Winkel 43, another of Aric’s favorites.

Many years ago, Marjan and Mike lived in Malaysia. When they returned to the Netherlands, I bought their car and we met regularly when I was back in Holland. They invited us for lunch at De Krachtcentrale, a former power plant, now a restaurant, a nice example of how to reuse heritage buildings.

Over the weekend, we went to the North of the country. To Franeker, where we stayed with Nanda and Pim.We visited the famous Planetarium and explored the interesting heritage town.

The next day, we went to Groningen to visit Jur and the grave of my brother Ruud. An emotional visit because I was in Malaysia when he passed away.

We had dinner together in the same restaurant where I had eaten with Ruud and Jur two years ago, the last time I met Ruud. The next day, we drove back with Pim over the Afsluitdijk.

During our stay with Nana and Pin, we talked about traditional food and we wondered if the famous HEMA Rookworst (smoked sausage) still exists. The next day we checked, and yes, they still sell it. So we bought one; we also found boerenkool (kale), and that evening we had a very traditional winter stew, while there was a tropical heatwave going on 😉

A long trip by train to visit Carino and Joanne. Dr Carel Poeder was the principal of the Snellius School in Amstelveen, where I started as a physics teacher in 1976. Over the years, we became friends. Aric and I visited them in France, where they have been living for many years. He is now in his nineties. We had lunch together. It was worth the long train travel.

Two more meetings. We visited Marian and Henk in Ouderkerk during another heatwave. We know each other from our University days. And the next day, my friend Hans came to my apartment to say hi. He was a colleague, an English teacher at the Snellius School.

No appointments on the last day. We decided to go for a walk in the Amsterdam Forest. It is a man-made forest park, created in 1934 during the Great Depression to fight unemployment and poverty.

The Amsterdam Forest is the only city park where a specific area is designated for nude recreation! It is called the Zonnewiede and is located in a remote part of the park. It was a hot Sunday; I expected more visitors, but there were only a handful. Probably most naturists had gone to the popular nudist beach in Zandvoort.

After a dinner of leftovers (as we had to empty the fridge), we went one last time to the town center, hoping there would be a lot of illuminated buildings. But there was not much. More pictures in part 2. Here are two statues, one of Rembrandt and one of Queen Wilhelmina

Part 2 is still not available.