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!