Netherlands---Following the "Skipper and His Wife"

We just returned from a trip to Europe which included several days in the Netherlands.  We retraced some of the paths that the Wolthuis family might have taken.

We used "The Skipper and His Wife" as our guide and made a lot of our route decisions based on Bob and Carolyn Wolthuis' research in that book. The Skipper was my Great-Grandfather who made his living by hauling goods on his boat, the Hillichiena Harmina, which was named for his wife.

We started off in Amsterdam and enjoyed the flavors of that city---SO many bikes.  Bikes everywhere.  Everywhere.  

The Rijkmuseum was spectacular. . . especially the sculptures on the front lawn:

We decided to rent bikes so we could experience it too and rode exclusively in Vondel Park, a large park near the center of town.  I wasn't quite ready for us to all get on the roads, but the trails around the park kept us occupied for about an hour.  It was so interesting to see lots of groups of people enjoying the beautiful day and always, an equal number of bikes at the edge of the group.

The canal ride gave us a chance to see the architecture around one of the loops.  We rode the entire loop and some of us napped (it was our first day and we were experiencing jet lag in the afternoon). 

Seeing the Hellichiena Harmina was a great experience.  We walked to the address Bob had provided and found it.  It is called the Ideall now, and is a Bed and Breakfast on the Amstel River (mentioned on p. 97).  There are actually two Ideall boats in existence a "I" and a "II".  But the owner of the boat wrote to me and confirmed that he had talked with Bob and that we had actually gotten the right one. 

They couldn't invite us into the boat, unfortunately, but allowed us to walk around the top of it.  It doesn't have the grand appearance as the painted picture on our walls where it is featured on the sea (see p. 128), but it was still great to see it and think of my great-grandpa Hendrik Wolthuis and his family on the boat. (Each of the Hindrik's grandchildren has a painting of the boat.  I believe all of the great-grandchildren do as well.  It is an important symbol in our homes of this man and his decision to become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).

On our way to see windmills, we stopped just a few miles north of Amsterdam in a town called Zandaam and were able to spend a few minutes with our cousin, Elder Scott Jones.  At first, we had difficulty finding him until Eric or William looked up and saw a couple of white shirts.  We gave him lots of hugs, a bag of US goodies to share with his companion and left after a short time.  It was great to see him!

Heading up to Zaanse Schans, we visited a large group of windmills.  The one we found most fascinating was powering a saw mill.  They used the wind power generated by the windmills to pull logs up a ramp and then saw them into boards.  The saws went faster or slower depending on the strength of the wind.

We rented a car and drove to Enkhuizen (see p. 153) where there is a little village that approximates a fishing village in the early 1900's.  I hoped to get an idea of what life might have been like then.  It was interesting to see the small houses, the fishing nets, the people dressed in time-period clothing and to take a boat across the Zuiderzee (mentioned in the book, see p. 143).  We saw other sailing boats and could easily imagine our ancestors doing the same.

Bob mentioned a large dike that separates parts of the Zuiderzee now.  It is the Den Oever Dike (see paragraph 2, p3).  We drove across it and drove toward Friesland (the area where the painting was supposed to have been painted from).

Then, we headed toward Groningen where we spent the night.  We ate dinner in a little restaurant on the Schuitendiep which was a street apparently where the church existed where many of the family members were baptized. (see p. 171).  

We attended church in the Groningen branch on Sunday morning.  It was all in Dutch, but they provided headphones and translation for Sacrament Meeting.  They were friendly and helpful.  For a brief moment, I had a hope that we might be related to someone there, but the chance was not too high since the Wolthuis family members had all left the Netherlands and I don't believe others joined the church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) that we know of.  In any case, I felt happy to be there and felt some connection to the latter-day saints in Groningen.

After church, we drove on to Wildervank and Veendam.  I didn't have very exact information about what to look for other than some pictures I'd taken from the book.  We ate lunch in front of the Nederlandse Hervormde kerk in Veendam (p. 28) and wandered into the cemetery at the side of the church.  Unfortunately, I didn't realize that Anna Schuur Wolthuis was actually buried in that cemetery and I didn't have the headstone information with me (p. 29).  But, we were there. (Anna Schuur was Hindrik Wolthuis's mom).

After Veendam, we discovered the Osterdiep in Wildervank (Hillechiena lived there, see p. 84, and that is where Grandpa Frank was born, see p. 88)) and drove along it for many miles. (see p. 60, 77) The houses along side the canal got fancier and fancier the further we drove. 

It was interesting to watch guys ride bikes alongside boats and raise the bridges so the taller boats could pass through the canals.  I was delighted to happen upon the little "scheepsjager" statue at the end of the Oosterdiep in Wildervank (see p. 118).  I hadn't really expected to see it because I couldn't find any information about where it was exactly.  I might have squealed a bit in happiness to come upon it.

On our way back to Amsterdam, we stopped in Lemmer (see p. 121) to see "the largest water pumping station in the world": Woodegemal.  I don't the think that lighthouse was still there, but there were many (modern) windmills in the area.

For the final day, we visited the Van Gogh museum back in Amsterdam.  It was very well done and we especially enjoyed the audio tour.