Árdís - 01.01.1964, Síða 50

48
ÁRDÍ S
with a carefully rehearsed English speech, saying: “Welcome to
Holland, auntie. We are very glad to see you!” There were visitors
coming all the time, and so many pictures were taken, which I now
treasure very much. In the evening Mr. and Mrs. Hagelaar, Dicky’s
parents, came riding their bicycles. This worried me as they are
both over 70 years of age, but this is a common way to travel, and
comes most natural. The main highways, many with four driving
lanes, have a bicycle road at the side, as the traffic is so heavy.
We went down town in Deventer, and I found it quite inter-
esting, as this is the old part with very narrow streets, covered
with cobblestones or bricks. The clerks were very courteous, and
most of them speak very good English. In fact, many people in the
Netherlands speak four languages, as this is necessary for the
tourist trade. One of the clerks has a sister in Winnipeg, and giving
me the telephone number, asked me to try to contact this relative
if possible. This I did, and now I have an invitation to visit that
Dutch family.
We did some shopping and carried our parcels, as we made
our way to the stall to wait for the taxi. We laughed as I often
slipped off the sidewalk, when meeting someone carrying parcels,
but these little accidents are not dangerous, because the sidewalks
are only raised a few inches.
Coming back home to the Scholtens it was of course time for
the evening meal. There were some new foods to be tasted. There
was the “Yoghurt”—something like sour milk—but the recipe is
a Dutch secret. This is eaten with other food, and they like it very
much. Then some more meat rolls which they call “coquettan”,
and contains meat very finely chopped and mixed with different
flavours and fried. One of the Dutch desserts is ice-cream topped
with whipped cream and a cherry or other fruit. This is delicious
but must be fattening, although no one seemed to worry about
such details. I spent one night with these friends and felt very
much at home, and thank them for their hospitality.
We visited the two Canadian military Cemeteries, Holten and
Groesbeck. There are 135 cemeteries where some of the Canadians
are buried, and 6,331 of our dear ones are resting in that country.
As a group we visited only these two and first we went to the Holten
Cemetery where Allan is resting. This was early in the morning,