Tides, Ancestors, Canals, and Porcelain

What a busy few days it has been!

Quick rundown
Monday: Walk through the mud in Cuxhaven at lowtide
Tuesday: Ride trains all day to get to Leewarden, bus to Ferwert (village of ancestors) beer, camp
Wednesday: Walking through Amsterdam
Thursday: art museums, train to Delft, good Dutch dinner!

Extended Version:
Monday
The tide in Cuxhaven goes out around 40 kilometers. This means that you can walk to islands, walk for miles on mud as far as the eye can see, and also just have a fun time squishing around. Finally the weather warmed up enough to go barefoot, the sun was out and things were pleasant

Tuesday
We left Cuxhaven and took the train into the Netherlands. The city of Leewarden is very nice, I could see myself living there someday. Kinda like Grand Rapids but with some canals and homes with big windows. We took a bus to the small farm town of Ferwert. Ferwert is surrounded by fields of sheep, crops, and dykes. The church, build in the 1600′s, is still standing and still used. The gravestones of my ancestors have been replaced with newer ones of peolpe with familiar names (that is what they do in Europe, after a certain amount of time they just make a new grave there.) We took our bearings from there and tried to find the buildings where my ancestors worked and lived, we found the street, the corner, some old brick buildings…but nothing definite (buildings have been updated but the streets are still the same) We stopped in a bar to ask some locals if they knew of the buildings or any other relevant information, they didn’t, but the told us to stop by the government building in the morning to ask them. They also told us of a place to camp right outside of the village (owned by a local farmer.) All the homes in Ferwert were very beautiful, a mix between Evergreen Park (where my parents grew up) and Palos Heights (where I grew up). The windows were so large, it gave a very welcoming feel to the town. We ate dinner, set up camp (we even had a working toilet and hot shower!) then we walked to try to find the sea but all we found after we went over the dyke, was more farmland and swampy areas. we turned back and decided to have a beer at the bar we stopped by earlier that day. Those 3 people were still there plus a new face, and they welcomed us with a mix of Fries-Dutch(Friesland), Dutch, English and German for my travel companion. We sat and talked about where we were from, what we did, and why ferwert was a nice place to live. 3 beers later (one on the house) we said goodbye and made our way back to our camp to sleep.

Wednesday
Went to the Ferwert Government house to get some info (all which was already collected by my Grandfather’s nefew from a leewarden church) so nothing really new. However, the lady was nice enough to give me a hardcover book with very very old pictures of ferwert and other nearby cities. Stopped by the bakery for something to eat and for sentimental reasons (the Leo bakery may not be there anymore but I still can say that I ate some darn good pastries from the bakery in Ferwert!) then we waited for our bus, and waited, and waited…it never came…so we hitchiked a ride with a nice man going to Leewarden (a 20 minute drive) we took the trains all day until we arrived in Amsterdam. The weather was fantastic, but Amsterdam was FILTHY! trash everywhere and since we arrived so late, the museums were closed. We got 2 of the last beds left at the Shelter Jordan (a Christian Hostel) and then went to walk the city. My mother should be proud to know that at no time during my stay in Amsterdam did I consume Marijuana, though the fragrance whafted through the air many times.) we had a nice dinner and then made it back the the hostel for the night. It turned out that one of the guys working at the hostel knew some people who lived in my college dorm! his brother-in-law’s brother was an RA in my dorm! What a small world it is!

Thursday
Free breakfast at the hostel (PANCAKES!!! Finally no more rolls and meat for breakfast!) then we headed to the art museums. We purchased a museum card and saved some cash visiting the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum. We saw famous works by the Dutch masters, vermeer, and also saw a whole mess of Van Gogh paintings (mmm Van Gogh.) then we took a train to Delft. The train was packed and the heat was making me sweat buckets (I guess I was getting repaid for complaining about the cold before.) We are staying with friends of Dirk’s family, a retired dutch couple that fed us a good old fashined Dutch dinner of green beans, beef, and potatoes! Tomorrow we will see this charming city and hopefully take a tour of the delftware porcelain factory. Saturday we head off to Brussels and stay the night (perhaps 2) in Brugge, so until then…

shine on your crazy diamonds!