8 Days in the Netherlands

We arrived in Amsterdam after an overnight flight. The airport is amazing and we enjoyed sightseeing there, especially the "Man in the Clock" of the man painting and erasing the time every minute. We boarded the train to Amsterdam and set back and enjoyed the scenery. Once in Amsterdam, we checked in to our amazing hotel and soon joined our English speaking walking tour. The local guide was amazing and we LOVED the time walking through the city and getting introduced to its many features. Following the tour we heading to eat and called it an early night. Jet lag is real.

The day started early with a bus tour group to Edam, Volendam, Marken and Zaanse Schans. Our tour guide was great and made a great balance of letting us enjoy the scenes and giving us great information on the way and at each site. We were able to watch Clogs being made (wood flying everywhere), walk into working windmills, explore a cheese farm that included petting the cows and goats and tasting so many examples of cheeses. This was a wonderful day that showcased so many of the great things that occur in the Netherlands.

Another group tour to the nearby cities of Rotterdam, The Hague, and Delft. Rotterdam was destroyed during WWII but has done an amazing job rebuilding the city and the amazing architecture is grand. The Hague is an important civil hub and hosts many world wide conventions and conferences. The instantly recognizable blue and while pottery is made in the city of Delft.

Took a short train ride to south Amsterdam and got to watch a soccer (football) game from the famous ArenA, home of the Ajax Soccer Club, the Netherlands most famous team. Explored the area, which was great for walking, grabbed a bit to eat, watched a movie in the local movie theater and cheered the team to a tie.

Zeeland is the Southern most province in the Netherlands, bordering Belgium to the South. The central city is Middleburg, which became our hub for the next two days. From Middleburg, many beaches are accessible and this is a favorite vacation area of many people from Germany. We were here to explore the land of our ancestry. We loved walking the brick streets, watching the bicycles go bye, and eating food from a local meat market.

Today was the reason for our entire trip. We had traced the origin of our name, Westveer, to the province of Zeeland and the city of Waarde. We also found many other cities where the Westveers had lived, worked, played, and even immigrated from. I hired our host, Pietre, for the day and we learned the history of the area, visited the Westveerpolder, the Westveerdijk, and explored the canals, churches, and areas our relatives lived over 500 years ago. We meet with the local soccer team and were gifted jerseys (Kits) of the Waarde team. We even met a cousin, Eddy Westveer. We toured the ancient church and met up with a local historiean who shared with us some of the church and town history. Pietre also took us to a local fishery where we were able to go "backstage" and see the interworkings of the fishing industry. I will never forget this day!

Back to Amsterdam and a beautiful boat ride down the famous canals of the city. The views were amazing as the boat captain shared with us interesting information about the city. We were able to visit the Van Gogh Museum and were amazed at the famous artwork right in front of our eyes. We finished the busy day at the Anne Frank House and Museum. What a somber, sobering experience to see the actual house that Anne, her family, and others hid in for so many months to avoid the concentration camps during World War II. Sadly, they were just days from freedom when they were captured and killed.

We went with a group east to the city of Geithoorn. This city is famous for being boats only, no cars allowed. Simply a beautiful, quiet place in the middle of a busy world. Great food and sights ruled the day.