Caldwells in Belgium and The Netherlands: Jessie and Gordon Visit

These pictures may make it seem like all we do is play, but we do manage to do missionary work along the way. We don't talk a lot about our responsibility out of concerns for the privacy of those we work with. On Sundays, we drive about an hour each way to attend meetings in the Leeuwarden Branch. I serve as second counselor in the branch presidency and Bonnie serves as the primary president. We also home teach families in the Leeuwarden area. On Monday nights, we hold a family home evening for the young people in the Groningen area at our apartment. On Thursday nights we support them in the institute program. On Mondays, we often host the elders or sisters in the area for their preparation day. On Tuesday we have district class. About once a month, we have a zone conference or training session. We also do joint teaching with the elders and sisters here in Groningen. All-in-all we stay busy, but we are able to squeeze in a little fun when we get visitors from home.

On May 13, Gordon and Jessie arrived on the new direct KLM flight from Salt Lake City. They didn't look the worse for the wear, so we whisked them off to Kinderdijk, south east of Rotterdam.

These charming boys were willing to pose for a tip. They didn't press for money, however.

Looking for Dutch roots in the photo inside the windmill.

We headed for our hotel in Noordwijk. It was a charming place about a block from the beach. Of course, the weather was cold and windy, but this was mid-May in the Netherlands

Jessie enjoying her first Dutch pannekoek (pancake).

Gordon thought his was edible as well.

We retired early to give Jessie and Gordon time to catch up on a little sleep and arose bright and early the next morning to head to Keukenhof, the world's largest spring garden and the largest garden in Europe.

The "girls" posing with a local hostess.

Despite being the end of the season, the fringe tulips were in full glory.

The "girls" liked the orchid pavilion.

Catching a rest while waiting for John Hayes to arrive.

We were joined at about 10:30 AM by our great friend, John Hayes on his way home from Kuwait for summer leave. We had visited the Netherlands with John and JoAnn three years ago, but were just too late to visit Keukenhof. JoAnn passed away earlier in the year, so we were all missing her. It was a great place to have a short reunion. We caught the fisherman's choir and then captured John in the wooden shoe, ate lunch together and then snapped John saying goodbye to the hostess.

Two men who both got bad haircuts on two different continents.

John about to leave. We made him pose for the photo.

On Sunday morning, we drove from Groningen to Leeuwarden so that we could fulfill our Church responsibilities. At the meetings, we were delighted to renew our friendship with Randy Muller. He joined the Church in Idaho and stayed with us for a few months. We were thrilled to meet his wife and cute daughter.

After Church, we drove across the Afsluitdijk (the enclosure dike that separated the old Zuider Zee or Southern Sea from the North Sea). As you can see, it was cold and windy. We took pictures from the tower at the monument on the far end of the dike.

At the Zaanse Schans they have various demonstrations along with a number of functioning industrial windmills. It has become the number one tourist attraction in the Netherlands for foreigners.

On Monday morning, we began our adventures in Amsterdam by catching a tram from the hotel to the Central Station and then on to the Van Gogh Museum.

Hopping the trams in Amsterdam

In the main hall of the Rijksmuseum

By the I Amsterdam sign

Getting ready for the rondvaart (boat ride through Amsterdam)

Getting acquainted with Anne Frank

After one long day in Amsterdam, Gordon and Jessie were ready for less crowded adventures, so we headed off to the west of the Netherlands to Apeldoorn and a visit to the former royal palace of Het Loo. The former queen Juliana turned the palace over to the people in the 1960 and it was renovated for many years. It was uncrowded (except for groups of charming school children who were well behaved).

After the palace, we headed to the first national park in the Netherlands, De Hoge Veluwe. Interestingly enough, this is a private foundation developed by the Kroller-Muller family after World War I. Gordon and Jessie gamely jumped on bikes for the first time in many years.

The hunting lodge

The lodge had been closed for renovation for the last four years and just reopened for tours. Gordon and Jessie used headphones to get an English language explanation.

We decided to take Gordon and Jessie to the village of Giethoorn. There are no streets in the historic part of Giethoorn, only canals and a small footpath along part of the main canal in town and this crosses the canal many times on small bridges. The town was only locally known until 1959 when a famous Dutch director did a comedy film called Fanfare. That started the national tourism trend and today, more than a million people visit the village each year.

This is how they deliver mail in the Netherlands

We also took Gordon and Jessie to a special wooden shoe factory in Friesland, the province in the northwest part of the Netherlands and one of the oldest to be settled. At this factory, they make the wooden shoes from willow instead of poplar. It is a denser wood that holds less water so the shoes are more durable. They are also finished with a special mottled finish that is unique to Friesland.

We decided to take them to a gourmet dining location - Makro (or Costco on steroids as the senior couples here call it). They have a small gourmet restaurant in the food section. Strange, but delicious.