Iceland and Amsterdam trip

My mission was to find my grandmother's house in Yerseke ( 2 hours 10 minutes from Amsterdam by train). My grandmother and her family left Holland in 1911. Her father sold a patent to the US Navy and they moved to New Jersey. He invented an escape pod for submarines in fact, I have the old blueprints. They owned a restaurant and oyster farm in Yeseke. My aunt visited Yeseke in 1988 and she found my grandma's house. She copied some photos and mailed them to me. This is my story as part of my trip with the Club to Amsterdam:

Got off the train and took a bus to Yeseke. Got off the bus and walked across the street to the grocery store. I showed the cashier the photos and she didn't recognize them. An older pretty woman came over and looked at them. She said: "I know where this is, its just down the road. Come with me and I'll show you". We walked about 4 blocks and there it was, my grandmother's house. The kind woman's name was Yoke (yooka). Knocked on the door, nobody home. She said "Let's go find some old people, they will know who lives here and maybe know your family"

So we walked to where she had worked for 26 years, in a restaurant/bar. The bartender looked in the phonebook for Reyngoudt. There was a Willem. He called him and he was my grandmother's cousin. So the bartender drove Yoke and me to his house. He was very glad to see me. He was 85 and a talented oil painter. I took some pictures of his paintings. He gave me a photo of his father. While I was there he called another relative that lived in Oudorp (15 minutes north of Amsterdam). I made arrangements to visit them the next day. We went back to the bar and I told Yoke thank you many times, but I needed to get back to the bus stop. She insisted that I go to her home and eat first. She made me pan fried fish-good. She asked her neighbor to drive me to the train station. A perfect day for sure.

On the way home, I had my fanny pack picked. He was fast and good. I went to the police station and canceled my visa and had them send me $100 by Western Union. No big deal but I didn't get to visit my other relatives. I called them and told them what had happened. We left early on Sunday for the airport. So it was a wonderful adventure for me. That was my first time across the pond. I know this is a long story for the newsletter, I just wanted you to know my story and to thank you for inventing the Women's Travel Club.

from Darlene (Dixie) Dagner E-mail: Darlene.Dagner@mail.sprint.com

Dixie is a second time traveler with us; she joined our Angel Falls Venezuela trip several years ago...

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February 8, 2008

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