Andy in The Netherlands: Day 81 - 88 - Amsterdam and Belgium with the Family

The family crossed the pond. This is what happened. Pictures after text.

Day 81 - Thursday

I had class. Then Steve, James, and I went to grab a beer and lunch afterwards. Normal Nederlands stuff.

Day 82 - Arrival

After class I headed up to Amsterdam to meet up with my family. I successfully predicted their reactions to seeing me, and after rendezvousing in Dam Square we wandered through the Red Light District in search of food. The spot we settled on was right near the hotel - the five-star Grand Amrath, which was a sight to behold. The family was severely jet-lagged, so they all napped for a couple hours and I made use of the complimentary mini-bar.

My dad woke up and we walked around the cool, modern harbor I had yet to explore. We saw the Renzo Piano-designed NEMO and what has to be the coolest library in the world. I wandered around the Centraal Library awestruck for a while, and we headed back there for dinner at the Italian restaurant inside (yes) which had delicious pizzas. We capped off the night with a stroll along the harbor, a hilarious British show called Have I Got News For You that was remarkable in its candor, and 30 Rock on Netflix.

Day 83 - Keukenhof

In the morning we got up and headed off to Keukenhof in Lisse, one of the world's most spectacular gardens. We had to wait in line for a bus for an hour, and it was a complete mob scene when we arrived (easily 100,000 people there). The flowers were spectacular and included many varieties I'd never seen before, but the crowds became oppressive at a certain point. Never before has there been a bigger collection of people who (in the words of Kenny Schneider) have no idea what they want, and all these old tourists just end up clogging every footpath in the park. Crowds and all, Keukenhof was still impressive, and we were treated to awesome views of the tulip fields beyond the park.

When we got back to Amsterdam Joey and I wandered around for a bit, stumbled upon a big anti-nuclear energy protest in Dam Square, and browsed at H&M for orange clothing (I needed an orange shirt for Queen's Day - April 30). H&M in Europe is refreshing because the men's section is as big as the women's, and I ended up getting a cool shirt in addition to my orange t-shirt.

Afterwards we made it back to the hotel in time to watch the Wings play, and they made it interesting against the Coyotes but pulled out the victory. Dinner was at Vapiano at the library again, because it was easy and delicious and quite the good deal. A real gem they've got there.

We probably watched more 30 Rock as a family but I was exhausted and fell asleep pretty early.

Day 84 - Leiden

On Sunday we packed up and left Amsterdam - my parents went to The Hague to check into their hotel and Joey and I went to Leiden. We grabbed doner kebab and sat in the park along a canal for a couple hours killing time. We migrated to the Starbucks at the station to wait for the parents to arrive, and after they did we did a bit of a walking tour through Leiden (with an early stop at Bagels and Beans). Everyone was very impressed with charming old Leiden, and I think they enjoyed it more than Amsterdam.

Joey and I headed back to the Swamp (a long walk with only one bike) and made it in time for the tail end of the Swamp BBQ. We played football with a bunch of people and had a good time, and I was happy Joey could have fun. We went back to my room and watched 30 Rock for the rest of the night. I fell asleep because I was exhausted. Also - I'm a tremendous footy player, even rusty as I was. Magic.

Day 85 - In Bruges

Joey and I made our way to the Hague to meet up with my parents, and from there we made the 3+ hour train journey through Belgium to Bruges. The Belgian countryside was really quaint and made me miss Up North. It felt cool to be in a place (Belgium, West Flanders, etc.) where I have roots.

We arrived in Bruges and took a bus into the Market Square. It's beautiful and quaint, and surrounded by old historic structures. We walked to our very nice, sleek, modern hotel tucked into a quiet section of town but quite near the hustle and bustle of the market. At check-in the very nice proprietor remarked at our Flemish name and mentioned that he was also from Roeselare (more on this in a bit). After settling in we wandered through town, and by a series of wrong turns ended up walking down quiet, non-descript streets, but this was actually really nice and peaceful. The streets of Bruges, dotted with canals and featuring well-maintained, historic residences, were adorable and peaceful, and in that moment I couldn't imagine a better place to be.

We walked all around Bruges for the rest of the day, and eventually got a really fine French dinner at one of the restaurants in an old square near a canal. Dad and I had Brugse Zot, the local Bruges-brewed beer, which was quite good. My salmon quiche might be the best thing I've ever tasted. We walked past the lit-up canals on the way back to the hotel, and spent the rest of the night watching the Discovery Channel, a station that exists here in English with Dutch subtitles. My mom hates Deadliest Catch.

Day 86 - Roeselare Roots

This will surely prove to be one of the singular days I remember most from this entire European experience. We went to the small Flemish town of Roeselare on Tuesday because we knew that Charles Goddeeris, father of the Flemish community in Detroit around the turn of the 20th century, had emigrated from Roeselare and we hoped to maybe find something with the Goddeeris name for a photo-op. We weren't quite sure what to expect.

We walked around the cute-enough town with shops and restaurants and churches, and eventually made our way to the national cycling museum. Cycling is the biggest sport in Belgium, and Eddy Merckx is basically the most famous Belgian ever, so Joey and I went in. The museum was pretty cool, if just to look at bikes and watch famous races on TVs scattered about. We met up with my parents in the lobby, and my dad pointed out in a guide he found that there was a statue in town by an Isidoor Goddeeris. He asked the lady at the desk if she knew where to find the statue, because we shared a last name with the sculptor. She mentioned that the sister of Isidoor, Mary, worked at the museum, but that she wasn't working that day. We were about to leave when my mom went back in to write a note to Mary, and inside she discovered that Mary Goddeeris was in fact there at the museum that day. This is the part where we meet a relative we didn't know existed. Mary told us that her mother was born in Detroit, and that her grandfather had gone to Detroit in the 1930s for a while. It was all pretty remarkable, as it sunk in that she was definitely related to us, however distant. She arranged for us to meet up with her brother, John, in a few hours, so we left to museum to wander around checking out some other Isidoor Goddeeris sculptures and to eat lunch.

Lunch was great. Croque-monsieur with a delicious dipping sauce and the Roeselare beer, Rodenbach, which was the most unique beer I've ever had (very sour, but drinkable). After lunch we walked around a bit and then got hot chocolate (side note here - Belgian waffles and Belgian chocolates exceed their reputations - they're outstanding, and the chocolate is surely the finest I've ever tasted).

When we made it back to the cycling museum, John Goddeeris (here pronounced "Who-dere-iz")- an amateur family historian, as chance would have it - was very eager to meet us. He had with him a book he edited of Charles Goddeeris' memoirs from Detroit in Flemish (English excerpts of which I've read before - Charles Goddeeris witnessed Henry Ford test-driving his first automobile... what do you know about 5th-generation Detroiter swag?) and was eager to swap what we knew about the family. John was full of revelations. There exists a Charles Goddeeris prize for architects at the academy in Roeselare, and my branch of the Goddeeris family was full of people in the building trades. 300 years ago my branch and John's branch broke off from each other, and my branch was the wealthier family in commerce that moved to Roeselare.

John drove us around town showing us various sculptures by his brother Isidoor, the youngest of five brothers and sisters in his family, who appears to be quite the big deal. We ended up going to his studio to meet him, which was really cool. The studio was something out of a photography book, and Isidoor was quite cool. After chatting for a while and getting some family pictures we drove back to the cycling museum to wish everyone goodbye. We shared some more current events type stories and speculated that we have a big Goddeeris reunion in Roeselare.

It was really special to be able to go to a small Belgian town and definitively place our ancestry there. I had always identified loosely as Belgian, but going to the town where my ancestors lived, and where distant relatives still live is pretty special. The experience also made me realize that I'm a 5th generation Detroiter, which I don't think many Detroiters at all can say. That makes me very proud. More proud than you can imagine, probably. There's a reason I just can't imagine myself being able to leave this city.

After we got back to Bruges we were all exhausted and took the embarrassing but convenient and cheap step of getting some Subway for dinner, which we ate in the hotel. Funny part and only reason I mention this is the young kid working at Subway mentioned he had been to America, that he LOVED America, and he went, "You know what I love most about America? Free refills." Amen, brother. Super. Size. Me.

Day 87 - De Halve Maan and The North Sea

We woke up, had brunch at the hotel, and Joey, my dad, and I went to De Halve Maan Brewery for a tour, where they still make Brugse Zot blond and bruin beers. The brewery tour was cool and definitely have me a deeper appreciation for the process of beer-making, and the tour guide was pretty funny in a very droll way. Afterwards we got a glass of Brugse Zot, which was good, and my dad and I tried the Straffe Hendrik Quadrupel, which De Halve Maan also brews. I'd never seen a Quadrupel, and it was 11% ac/v, which was strong even for a Belgian beer. It was remarkably smooth and not nearly as heavy as one would expect, and it surely packed quite the punch. I've seen it described online as "dangerously drinkable" and my dad and I both would agree with that summary.

Afterwards we met up with mother and rented bikes. We rode out along the canals to Damme, a small old town with cute restaurants that tourists frequent. We decided to keep riding in an effort to make it to the sea. At one point my mom and dad decided to call it quits, so they stopped at a restaurant and Joey and I rode on. We probably should have consulted a map before leaving. To make a long story short, we got very lost at some point. We crossed over into Holland, and rode through the cute town of Sluis, and after a couple wrong turns ended up on what we thought was the route to the sea. We were following the "Noordzee Route" which we figured would take us to the sea, but ended up being a remarkably indirect path to the beach - we probably biked 25km out of our way on the way there, and that's no exaggeration. The country, however, was really beautiful, and the weather was great. We finally made it to the beach and North Sea, and it was great to walk in the sand and dip my feet in the freezing North Sea. We got cokes and ice cream on the beach before heading back along a much more direct route through the resort town of Cadzand and along some canals all the way back to Damme for dinner. At this point I had lost feeling in my hands (I still have numbness in my left hand) and I was rather tired (though less tired than I would have expected, to be honest. Conditioning.). We finally made it back into Bruges in the early evening, and collapsed into bed for the night.

Day 88 - Goodbyes

In the morning we had a final breakfast in Bruges, and then headed to the train station. My family booked their tickets to Paris, where they'll be for the next couple days, and I got mine back to Leiden. After a teary (mom) and huggy goodbye, we parted ways. I stopped in Antwerp and walked around for a bit, but I was most impressed by how beautiful the train station was. It made me wish Michigan Central Station was in use. How grand it would be. The ride back to Leiden wasn't noteworthy, and I've spent the rest of the day being lazy and relaxing. Classes are cancelled tomorrow for Good Friday and I think I'm headed to the beach and then Amsterdam for an indie club night. Life is rough.

Seeing my family makes me miss them now and I kind of want to go home. I'm sure this'll wear off once I get back into the swing of being away from them. I've been in Europe for three months. This is pretty crazy. Two months to go. Cory and Jordan are coming soon, I'm going to Berlin, I've got a couple finals, and then a final month of traveling with Adrian. Shaping up to fly by, I think.

Enough words. Here are a lot of pictures.