Les mémoires d'Hollande. Review on Netherlands, General

Les mémoires d'Hollande

“A trip down reminiscence” is how I would put across this trip down to Holland via Zurich as I boarded the Swiss air flight from Mumbai. The departure took off 15 minutes behind schedule and the pilot profusely apologized for the delay, but promised to land in time, which he actually did. It was about 6 hrs flying time. The Swiss are extremely conscious of time - in minutes, if not in seconds - and they are proud to be punctual. There is an underground railway connecting the terminals in Zurich airport, which is busier than Central station at its peak hours. But the crowd is very orderly, though coming from different cultures, almost all passing through the smallest European country. The directions in the airport are absolutely top class and a first timer like me needed only 10 minutes to reach the other terminal.

The flight to Amsterdam took about 2.5 hours. Nostalgic moments filled my mind as the plane made its descent onto the Schipol Airport, Amsterdam. I was completely engulfed in those 2 years that I had spent in Rotterdam during my high school days. Call it coincidence, just when I was neck deep in my thoughts, the Bryan Adams number “summer of 69” started playing at my ipod and it only intensified the moment.

“Accueillir à l'Hollande” beamed Aunt Anne as she welcomed me with a warm hug at the airport. Aunt Anne is a distant relative of mine who had settled down in the Netherlands in early 80’s and I was in Holland for a week on vacation. Her light blue eyes, dimpled cheeks, and an ever ready smile have remained her hallmark in the last 24 years that I have known her. Nothing seemed to have changed except for her having put on weight and it took me sometime to identify her at the airport.

“Prêt pour un train voyage mon enfant?” asked Anne as I was still trying to figure out what she meant. Sensing my dumbness she asked “ready for train ride my child?” and I nodded in affirmation. Aunt drove me to Rotterdam in the blue Mercedes and during the ride was enquiring about everyone back home. One could not help but be amazed at her memory of minute details of everyone and as we passed through Verhulstlaan 21, Rotterdam; my school for 2 years in Holland, the American International School stood with its old buildings albeit some new wings that had opened up in recently.

“Rotterdam is going through a period of Renaissance” noted Anne as she took me for a stroll down the port area amidst skyscrapers that looked as if it were kissing the sky. Rotterdam houses the largest port in Europe and I gazed at some of big ships that were awaiting service at the harbor. Aunt was busy explaining to me the importance that this port played in the development of Rotterdam and I was listening to her in rapt attention.

My best attempts to convince Aunt Anne to try our hand at a nearby casino turn futile as she discards the idea and drags me to Parkheuvel, an expensive restaurant nearby to have our dinner there. The next day we paid a visit to the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra which was established way back in 1918 to promote music solely for personal gains and not in the pursuit making any monetary benefits.

To the south of Rotterdam city lies the spacious Ahoy complex which hosts a variety of activities starting from tennis tournaments, cultural exhibitions to concerts. To the north of Rotterdam, a major zoo called “Blijdorp” is situated which houses an “Oceanium” in the expansion area of the zoo.

Architecture is at its best in Holland when one visits the administrative capital of this country, Hague or Den Haag which houses a beautiful blend of 19th century buildings and modern skyscrapers. The city life is majorly concentrated on Hofvijver and the parliament is located in Binnenhof.

A popular destination for tourists is the beach town in Scheveningen lying in the north- western part of the city and Aunt Anne stunned me for a moment when she said “about 10 million visitors come here every year”. I was amazed by the lively night life that this city has there are three main centers in the city that would be of interest to a visitor; the Grote Markt (Large Market), the plein (The Square), the Buitenhof (Outer Court). Buitenhof has a host of restaurants and bars and the luxurious Pathe’Buitenhof cinema. Hague also has a miniature city called Madurodam which focuses on look-alikes of Holland displayed for the public. After paying brief visits to a host of museums such as Escher, Louis Couperus, Beelden aan Zee, Museon, I headed back home fully excited at the prospect of visiting the last end of my journey, Amsterdam, the commercial capital of Holland.

With a history dating back to as early as the 13th century, Amsterdam is a city that lies on the banks of IJ bay and Amstel River. Amsterdam should have been “monster-dam” with its huge buildings, mansions situated near canals and have some amazing museums that you would ever find like the Rembrandt house museum, Van Gogh museum, Stedelijk Museum, and one must spend sometime at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra which is considered to be amongst the best in the world. The Concertgebouw orchestra surely has earned a name in the group of top world orchestras with its velvety strings, timbre of woodwinds and brass sound which are both unique and world class in its own right.

Another unique feature of this city is the diverse culture that is prevalent due to a mixture of people both from Dutch and from Suriname origin. A host of restaurants and cafes are lined up here and Anne was not willing to allow me to enter any of the cafes. I tried asking her and after a lot of insistence she finally replied saying that the cafes here not only serve coffee and beverages but give you a good dose of drugs in it. As it was getting dark Aunt was more concerned of going back home rather than staying in Amsterdam and she kept on saying “Verhuur ons gaan terug” more than once and I knew something was surely wrong somewhere. Again, I got onto the task of making her blurt out what she had in mind, but this time she did not budge. As we kept on having an argument while walking around the central station area, I could see glass houses (or so they are called) which had many prostitutes trying to lure every passer by, which is when it struck me as to why Aunt Anne was so hell bent on getting back home.

I immediately turned back and held aunt closely as we drove back home. The next day was my last day here and we drove to the countryside towards Keukenhof, known as the world’s largest flower garden. Country roads, tall trees lining both sides of the road, wild flowers spreading their fragrance all over, Keukenhof attracts over 800,000 tourists from all over the world. This place houses Europe’s largest fountain and has a huge windmill at one corner of this huge park covering over 70 acres. The whole day was spent here and in the evening we returned back to Rotterdam and spent the entire evening near the harbor. I could see Aunt getting emotional after gulping over 4 cans of Fosters. This also had an effect on me as I knew that it was to be my last evening at Holland and the next day I was taking my morning flight to Zurich. As I bied vaarwel to Aunt Anne at the airport, she was teary eyed and sobbed uncontrollably. It took me sometime to control her and I promised her that I would come back soon to be with her for a longer time.

As I closed my eyes after having boarded the flight back, memories began slowly evanescing as the flight touched skies and all that was left was a “Les mémoires d'Hollande” to take home and best wishes from Aunt Anne.