Holland - Day 14 & 15

Holland - Day 14 and 15, On Friday we went the the historic town of Delft to celebrate Koningsdag (The dutch King's Birthday) with Louise's cousin Judith and her family, Florens and Ward.  This is celebrated in a big way in the Netherlands with a day full of fun, festivities, crowds, noise and lots of

people dressed in orange (even men in orange suits and wigs!) and eating & drinking things that were also of the same hue.  We biked into the city and braved the crowds and noise.  There was a
traditional Koningsdag 'market day' with children selling their unwanted toys on rugs on the street side.  There were also some adults selling second hand bits and pieces, and Louise succumbed and bought (with the help of Florens) 2 x near new "gourmet sets" for a grand total of 3 euro. (...granted, a bargin(!) now we just need to get them to NZ!!) The children were also given some 'pocket money' by their cousin to spend on what they liked. The younger children found this a lot easier than the older ones.  Maybe we get a little more choosey with age?  We also visited a side-show, and much to the children's delight we were shouted rides on the bumper cars.  In the afternoon we enjoyed a bike ride around the outskirts of Delft.

Today (Saturday) we did one of our enjoyable past times this holiday which is visiting the supermarket (!) and not succumbing to buying every dutch treat imaginable, although we did buy a few :-)   We also drove to Helmond to visit my sister and her family.  It was lovely to catch up with them and a blessing to be able to share time together.

The crowds in Delft, (brought back memories of Istanbul with its crowds).

Olivia's first spend... a prick board with colourful pegs on which to make pictures.

The bumper cars, Annelise had a blast!

Dutch Cops on the beat in Delft, yes on bikes, and instead of sirens they have whistles!

Enjoying a subdued and relaxed bike ride, well that is when Annelise is not crashing into a concrete post, or Olivia getting her foot caught in the back wheel of Mum's bike, causing her to fall off with her foot stuck in the wheel (Ouch!) Thankfully by God's grace both incidents were without any major damage, and resulted in a more healthy respect for concrete posts and avoiding spokes on the back wheels of bikes.

Louise's cousin Judith was such a blessing to us, really pulled out all stops to make our time in Holland memorable.

Enjoying time with family (and pets) in Helmond.

Holland - Day 13

Holland - Day 13, Today was a day of castles, we visited not one but two fantastic castles.
The first was Kasteel De Haar which is a monumental castle near the Utrecht village of Haremelen . It is the largest castle in the Netherlands.  This cattle was grandiose in every way imaginable, ostentatious to the max!! Nothing was spared in the restorations.

The second was the Muiderslot castle, a still-in-good-condition medieval castle in North Holland, Muiden, built around 1296.  This is what boys dream castles should be like.  It was a more 'rustic' castle with a moat, ramparts, guard towers and defensive structures which could all be explored. It had a lot of interactive activities that the children could be engaged in, which made this a fun filled experience.

Kasteel De Haar

As you can see, very grandiose! It was rebuilt from 1892 on the ruins of the old castle in neo-Gothic style, funded by the Rothschild family.

Grandiose both with out and with in, everything was lavish..

These were all around the ceilings in the bed rooms, They were to kill any evil spirits that were floating about (ha ha)

Muiderslot castle, the castle of dreams....

 Some of the activities for children (both young and old!)


















There were displays of the armour and weapons used during the middle ages. 

This is an awesome way to have lessons on medieval history!  Pages in a book can never compare to seeing and experiencing these things for real. 

Such a blessing to be able to share these together as a family,

Holland - Day 12

Holland - Day 12 - Being anzac day today in NZ we thought it would be appropriate to visit the Airborne Museum in Oosterbeek, which tells the story of the Battle of Arnhem or Operation Market Garden.

This was in a way a poignant day as the Battle of Arnhem had a direct impact on the Aarsen family during WWII. A good proportion of the airborne troops landed directly in the vicinity of Wolfheze, where my father lived. As a consequence the family suffered many trials and tribulations from bombardments, hunger and thirst, and escaping gun fire both from the ground and air, to the point that they had to flee as refugees and live in a town in the north of Holland for 8 months. Also as a consequence of the failure to capture the bridge at Arnhem Ewout's mother and her family suffered severely during the 'hunger winter' in Rotterdam during the winter of 1944/45.  After visiting the war museum we visited Opa and Oma Aarsen, where Opa regaled the children with a few stories of what is was like during the battle and what life was like post-war as a child.  Opa then took us out for a meal at a restaurant close to Hoenderloo.

At the end of the day we went to a "snoepwinkel" (dutch lollie shop :-) where the children (and mum and dad 😋) had great delight in filling up a bag each of the dutch delight, dropjes (salty licorice).

Wolfheze is where the Aarsen's lived during the war.

Displays from the Airborne museum, most with sound bites and lights and actual film footage. It was very realistic and helped you to imagine what it was really like.  The museum also has a range of displays dedicated to the resistance fighters of whom there were approximately 40,000 throughout the Netherlands, during the war. Their efforts were vital during the liberation of the Netherlands.

Enjoying a late lunch with Opa.

The snoepwinkel - Annelise displaying her bag of goodies while the boys are still trying to decide- out of a selection of more than 40 varieties of drop!

Holland - Day 11

During the WWII in Aalten there were more refugees
in hiding than actual residents!  

Holland - Day 11 Today we visited Louise's Uncle and Aunty in Lichtenvoorde, who took us to the Onderduik Museum (the 'Going into Hiding' Museum) in Aalten which was nearby.
This Museum showed the extent to which people hid Jewish refugees during world war 2, often at times at their own peril. Louise's grandparents also hid a Jewish woman during the war so it was a good to hear of their efforts and the dangers involved and God's protecting hand through out it all.

Secret hiding places.
The residents were very innovative in creating hiding spaces, not only for refugees but also for secret printing presses, radios and anything else that needed to be hidden from the Nazi.Being a strong protestant town they felt compelled to obey the command from Isaiah 16 verse 3,"Hide the fugitives, do not betray the refugees" and they did so with great courage.

A typewriter and printing press the underground used.

The Gestapo commandant had his office in the same house where refugees were being hidden.

An innovative way to power the lighting when there was no electricity, the faster you cycled the brighter the lights! A reading lamp was connected to the bike handlebars.

A jacket worn by a Jewish man, 

wearing the 'Jood' star was mandatory.

We also visited the very nearby village of Bredevoort and the farm where Louise's mum spent her childhood years. 

This house in Bredevoort dates back to 1234, you can tell by the exposed beams and it is still lived in today.Imagine the stories it could tell if it could speak!

This is the house where Louise's Mum spent her formative years. Externally not much had changed but the interior has been completely renovated, thankfully the tiles that Mum had fond memories off had been retained.