Mom and Dad in Holland!

Sorry for the delay in this post - I've just gotten into the middle of exams! But now I will no further delay the day my dad has been waiting for: to be in my blog!! As a lot of you know - my parents went on a 25th anniversary trip for ten days at the beginning of May. First they went to Paris, and then they came to Holland!

While in Holland, their plan was to spend Wednesday at the Keukenhof (tulip park), Thursday with me and then I'd go back with them for one night in Amsterdam, and then they had Saturday to see Amsterdam some more and Sunday to go to Bleiswijk. Since Thursday was my day to entertain them, I wanted to take them somewhere really Dutch - so I decided to have them meet me in Gouda - the cheese town. Of course, whenever you need to get somewhere in time those are always the days when you get held up. As luck had it, three illegal immigrants just happened to be right next to me, just in a huge fight with the train staff, and we were delayed 40 minutes while security staff held us up at the stop just before Gouda - whew!! But finally I reached Gouda to find Mom and Dad waiting for me in the station. It was so good to see them again and I think Mom was just a bit teary - but come on, they hadn't seen me four months! The longest time ever I had not seen my parents.

We had a really nice stroll towards the centrum in Gouda catching up and they told me about their time in Paris. Unfortunately, since spring came about 4 weeks early here they said there was only about 5% of the tulips left in Keukenhof but it was still nice. I pointed out various things to them like how never to walk in the red bike lanes - a few of my friends had learned that lesson the hard way. Some blue sky had begun to show which was lovely - I was starting to feel bad that up until their arrival - we had experienced over two weeks of non-stop sunshine - but as soon as they arrived - it was nothing but rain and wind in the forecast.

We took some nice photos of the canals, the city hall, the gorgeous church with long stain glass windows and of course the weighing station. Inside the cheese musuem/weighing station mom and dad were able to try some cheese - now I think they were really starting to feel like they were in Holland! As I discovered and Mom explained as we watched Dad - he liked to tell people about his Dutch ancestory - apparantly this started at the Keukenhof. Who can blame him though? Mom and I found great entertainment in this. At the cheese museum we saw a video about how the Dutch cheese was made - this was very good information but I have to say the highlight of the cheese museum was when mom and dad posed for the ultimate Dutch photo.

Luckily the Thursday market was on so Mom and Dad could see what kinds of food and goods are sold at local markets. Dad said he wanted to find some 'gebakies' that were like the ones Oma used to have on Sundays. At first I didn't know what he meant but then as we were looking through the bake stand I realized he meant 'gebaktjes' - or literally - baked goods. Although we couldn't find the specific ones he remembered - there was plenty of other nice Dutch treats to buy. We picked some up for later and Mom also got some nice old Dutch cheese - you can't come to Gouda and not get Dutch cheese!!

After this we sat down for some lunch. I wanted to make sure to pick a place where we could get some traditional Dutch kind of food. Of course - we get probably the least knowledgable waitress ever to exist and apparantly the one restaurant in Holland where you can't just get a plate of fries with mayo. As frustrating as that once it just became another funny story but we thouroughly enjoyed the bitterballen and toasties while Dad had 'Oma's Meatballs'.

From Gouda we headed to Tilburg where my parents could see my living conditions for the past four months. I conveniently had to go grocery shopping and wouldn't you know it? Mom and Dad kindly offered to pay for them!! (There are some advantages to having your parents visit!) They really enjoyed the shopping centre - it's quite different from North American ones - the cheese, bread, fish, meat and bread places all have their own stores.

Back at my apartment - they were able to see my room, our disgusting kitchen, and meet some of my room mates (Cheryl, Una and Paolo) They remebered Paolo as the one who never cooks which was quite funny. We didn't stay long at my place and went out for some dinner at an Irish pub in the centrum. From there - we headed back to Amsterdam to spend the night in their fancy hotel!

Now Thursday was definately not my day for trains - at least this time Mom and Dad were there too. As we were sitting and talking the man next to us blurted out, "I can speak English too you know.." After he found out we were Canadian we began an extremely long and drawn out discussion about how as a Native, he was treated so badly by the US government. He went on and on dispite the fact that we just agreed with him. He asked us if we saw love in his face and we were thouroughly creeped out. At the next possible stop we quickly ran out into the next train car - whew!!

The night in the hotal was very relaxing. It was brand new and very modern looking. We had a great view of the harbour and Mom and I had a good chat while dad went down to the sauna. Luckily, there was no other naked men in there like he had last time! (That's Europe Dad!) Although the couch was very comfortable my dad's snoring was quite overpowering - I've just gained so much more respect for their marriage that night - 25 years of that every night and they are still together!

Friday was unfortunately quite cloudy and we had a bit of rain. It was a good day to do the museums though. We went to the Anne Frank house which was such a moving experience and then we went to the Rijks museum where we saw the famous Rembrant paintings. All of us were quite impressed by the artwork there. By mid-afternoon it was time for me to go though. We didn't want me on the trains alone too late at night after our experiences yesterday!

I waved goodbye from the trains and watched my parents get smaller and smaller on the platform. Although it was sad to go - it wasn't as hard as in Januray because I knew I would see them in just three weeks! I've heard from them since that their Sunday visit to Bleiswijk went really well! The couple's son and daughter-in-law were there for Mother's Day and could speak English so my parents were able to communicate really well. Also, they were able to visit with Ome Koos which was very nice for them. My dad could apparantly remember a lot more Dutch than he thought!