Friesland,My home and Native Land by Ben Niven

Today we went to the province of Friesland, Netherlands. Friesland is where my Grandma and Grandpa Visser are from. Today we got up bright and early and headed north to see where my Grandparents lived. Our first stop in Friesland was the McDonald’s in Joure. Then we headed further north to Nijland. Nijland is where my Grandma Visser (Bootsma) was born. When we were in Nijland we  saw my great great Grandparent’s grave while we were visiting my Grandma’s old church which was built in 1596.  Another highlight was seeing my Grandma’s Grandfather’s old house. Then we drove to the habour town of Makkum. While we we there we found a fish kiosk called ” Vis Par Mare” where we had our daily dose of kibbling(Breaded bits of Cod). Ethan and I where also daring enough to share Smoked Eel which tastes better than it sounds. In the words of Ethan Niven ” It tastes like bacon!” The next stop…. Grandpa’s home town Parrega. In Parrega we stopped by the old bakery and home the Visser’s owned. In Parrega we dropped by  Grandpa’s church which was built in the 1300’s although there are many relatives in the cemetery the head stones are no longer there.

Tot ziens!

(all photos were taken by my Mom-Gloria Visser-Niven)

Flag of Friesland

Flag of Friesland

Viewing my great great grandparents

Viewing my great great grandparents graves

Grandma Visser's Church, Nijland

Grandma Visser’s Church, Nijland

Fish Kiosk, Makkum

Fish Kiosk, Makkum

 

Smoked Eel on a bum...smakelijk!

Smoked Eel on a bun…smakelijk!

 

Ethan, Grandma& Grandpa, Ben in front of Visser home in Parrega

Ethan, Grandma & Grandpa, Ben in front of Visser home in Parrega

 

The Church in Parrega Anno 1300

The Church in Parrega
Anno 1300

Hup Holland Hup!

Long day of travel, but we got to Holland at 2:30 am Calgary time. Got settled at our house and are now watching the Holland v Mexico game with some real Dutch fans. Just as I was writing this, Holland scored a penalty shot for a 2-1 lead

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Ethan watching Holland beat Mexico at the Cantina at Allurepark ‘t Eekhoornnest

Watching the Netherlands v Mexico game in Holland

Watching the Netherlands v Mexico game in Holland

 

Hello from 16J

This Is Ethan saying hello from my seat on the plane. We are about to take off so I am settling in for a 9 hour flight.

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Welcome to “Niven The Good Life”

We are the Niven’s.  We are traveling through Europe in the summer of 2014 and we created this blog for our kids.  We want them to be big contributors to this site so that friends and family can follow along on their adventures and also as an electronic memory album for years down the road.  We have high hopes for this blog and intend to add at least a paragraph about each day and maybe a picture or a video.

 

 

Amsterdam 2012

Amsterdam 2012