We started our first full day of Holland adventure by travelling north, the direction that Justin and Chris had done the least exploring in, and that led us to the beautiful city of Hoorn. It didn’t take long to fall in love with cobblestone roads and canals under the blue skies of September and the just turning leaves.

As we walked towards the port, we passed a lovely house on the corner with big windows and an open door into what looked like a professional kitchen. My father-in-law, Chris, stopped to ask the people eating at a small table out front if it was a restaurant or their home. It was so a lovely we were ready to stop for a bite.  It turned out this was their family home so we continued on, after chatting about Canada and Holland and poor Justin getting razzed for not speaking Dutch. I think this is common for our generation of immigrants’ children. My mom also came to Canada from elsewhere and we didn’t learn a word of her mother tongue, Latvian. Her focus was on being at home in her adopted country.

One thing Justin’s Dutch heritage has instilled in him is a deep love of the water. Hoorn was the perfect place to connect to the seafaring culture of the Netherlands. This city has a great history as a harbour and a fishing centre. Anyone with a love of boats will have a wonderful time taking in the views.

We were blessed with beautiful weather on our trip, as you can see by the calm waters and blue skies. Apparently September is a traditionally a good time to travel to Holland. We could have spent hours just staring out into the waters, drinking in the peace and beauty of this locale.

I thought perhaps that was the inspiration for this sculpture but it turns out the The Ships Boys of Bontekoe or the Scheepsjongens of Bontekoe are actually three characters from a book. Rolf, Padde and Hajo make their first travel out into the world by sea here in Hoorn.

With this vista beckoning, who wouldn’t go?