Where memories live.

Whilst we are in Holland, I return to Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel. This is the suburb where I lived with my family 23 years ago. We surprise Family, friends and old neighbours. I am enjoying the sight of their faces, when they realise who is at their door. It's great to catch up and exchange stories of days gone by and our todays. I show Gary around my old neighbourhood. We go to the shopping centre ( De Reigerhof). This is where I had my very first job. Like many other teenagers I worked as a check-out operator in the local supermarket (Albert Heijn ). Here I discover the shopping centre has expanded and is no longer recognisable to me. The swimming pool is also a wonderful memory. It is in this pool, where I get to swim, whilst it is still being build. I can truly say, I was the first to swim here. The park with obstacle course has completely disappeared. We go past my aunt and uncle's old house, this is still there but everything has been changed. On the inside there are no longer timber floors and everything is white. I have never really liked this style, it looks too sterile to me. I am keen to show Gary where we kept our horses and just want to return to the place where we had so many good times. I set of in that direction but soon discover it is impossible to find. Where once were paddocks with cows, sheep and horses, I now find an industrial area. I am unable to find anything to guide me to this old beloved place. I feel sad, I know the horses weren't there anymore, but I was told the farm was still there. In the suburb Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel is also the lowest point in Holland. A large part of Holland is below sea level. People used to ask me, what is it like to live below sea level. I never gave it much thought, as so much has been done to protect the dutch from any disasters. In 1953, however Holland was struck by disaster. In a terrible storm, most of Zeeland flooded and many lives were lost. The dutch have since found a way to keep the water out of Holland and keep the people who live there safe. Gary is interested to know how it is done. We visit the Maassluis tekering and are the only ones there at the time of the presentation and this makes it possible to have it in English.

Piet Heijn

Piet Heijn was a dutch naval officer and folk hero during the 80 years war between the Netherlands and Spain. Heijn was born in Delfsthaven (Rotterdam) and he became a sailor while he was still a teenager. In his twenties , he was captured by the Spanish and served as a galley slave for approximately 4 years, when he was traded for Spanish prisoners. In 1607 he joined the Dutch East India Company and left for Asia returning with the rank of Captain five years later. In 1623 he became a Vice-Admiral and sailed to the West Indies the following year for the Dutch West India Company. Piracy was condoned by the West India Company, but this is in fact what made Piet Heijn most famous. In 1628, Heijn sailed out to capture the Spanish treasure fleet, loaded with silver from their American colonies. Part of this fleet had been warned, because Heijn had been spotted, but the other half continued it's voyage. Twelve Spanish ships were trapped of the Cuban Coast, in the bay of Matanzas, and Heijn captured about 12 million guilders of booty in gold, silver and other expensive trade goods. The "Silver Fleet" was the companies greatest victory in the Caribbean. As a result, the money funded the Dutch army for eight months and the shareholders enjoyed a cash dividend of 70 per cent that year. Heijn returned to the Netherlands and was hailed a hero. Even if it was all for the wrong reasons. Piet Heijn was the only one ever to succeed, with the capturing of the Silver Fleet, though many had tried to do the same.

Holland-america line (Rotterdam)

After the Speedo we end up exploring the rest of Rotterdam. We visit the markets and Gary has to try one of the dutch specialities. It's called a kroket and he likes it. You can buy these at the

dutch shop in Australia as well. I have to try a childhood favourite of mine ( a frikandel special). I am no longer fond of these. We drive to Delfsthaven and my uncle shows us the point where the Holland_America line started in 1873. Today we associate this liner with elegant ships, cruises around the world and especially to Alaska, and gracious service.The Holland-America line was not always a vacation cruise specialist. Begun as the Netherlands- America steamship company, it was originally based in Delfsthaven (Rotterdam) and was a principal carrier of immigrants from Europe to the United States in the late 19Th and early 20Th century, carrying over 850.000 people to new lives in America. Holland-America line offered it's first vacation cruise in 1895. During world war 1 and 2 the company was chartered to carry military personnel by the British, American and Dutch governments, losing ships and personnel in the process. After WW2 demand for leisure cruises grew and in 1951 Holland-America line became the first ship line to give tourists class passengers the run of the ship. By 1968, most transatlantic travelers were taking jet planes to their destinations rather than sail. Holland-America line re-invented herself as a vacation cruise lines and has concentrated on that business ever since. We also go and look at Piet Heijn's house. After almost 24 years in Australia Dutch history has been forgotten and I ask my uncle what he did to become so famous in Dutch history and my uncle replies he won the silver fleet. Piet Heijn's story to Dutch fame will be next.

Rotterdam

Rotterdam is the largest harbour city in Europe. Once it could proudly call itself largest harbour in the world. Everything in the city seems to evolve around water. The city developed through the centuries as a harbour -, a manufacturer city, as a trade point. It began in the 14Th century as a small fishing harbour at Rotte riverside and only in the 19Th century did it really grow to a powerful harbour, since a connection was opened to the North Sea, from then till today the port has just been growing and expanding. Rotterdam is a relatively "new" city, thanks to WW2. Most of the city centre was bombed during the war and this is why there are so many new and daring buildings, such as the cubus homes. A few statistics about the harbour. Every year around 300 million tons of goods pass through the harbour. An average of 30.000 ships/per year leave the harbour and 130.000 have it as it's destination. It is also the main spot for oil, chemicals, containers, steel, carbon, food and metal transportation in Europe. When you are along the river "Maas" you can see a great deal of industrial structures, equipment and crates from a distance, but only when you take a tour on the Speedo can you access the otherwise inaccessible and see the enormity of the harbour and it's operations. Once a year, usually around the beginning of September you can visit the world port festival, where there are a lot of events and is completely dedicated to Rotterdam and it's harbour.

Holland's story

After 2 days in Santiago de Compostela, it is time to catch a Ryan Air flight to Frankfurt Am Hahn. We will from there on travel to Heidelberg to catch up with a friend of Gary's. Here we will spend 4 days to rest, chat and explore the neighbourhood. I enjoy a meal of sauerkraut with Hans, Gary has something more to his liking and the kids have a kids' meal. We all enjoy the time we have together but soon it is time to move on. We catch a train from Heidelberg to Rotterdam Centraal station. We haven't arranged a place to sleep. Gary is a spur of the moment man. I feel a little uneasy about this as my family is a family that likes to be forewarned. I believe this will not necessarily cause too much of a problem as lodgings were promised prior to our departure to Europe. We arrive in Rotterdam in the late afternoon and contact my father in hope we will be able to stay with him for the duration of our stay in Holland, but as he is renovating we are unable to stay with him. We contact my uncle but are told that his wife's daughter and her 2 children are staying there at the present time, as their unit is being upgraded by the dutch government as the units were originally build in the 70's and are in need of modernisation inside each unit and out. What does this mean? It means we can stay for a little while only. Luckily for us my old neighbour offers us his spare bedroom and this turns out to be the best. Gert is easy-going and we can stay as long as we like.