Europe 2023 - Day 12 - Our First Full Day at Disneyland Paris

We got up at 6:00a for our first day at Disneyland Paris. The park opens at 9:30a for everyone and at 8:30a for people who are staying at a Disney affiliated hotel. There was just us and a couple other families catching this bus. We've had the sense that not many of the people staying at our hotel are actually going to the park. Either that or none of them are crazy enough to try to get to the park in time for opening. As mentioned, it's about a 900 meter walk from our room to the bus stop so we had to make sure we left enough time. No issues and we had time to sing Melissa Happy Birthday when we got there.

Turns out that park opening is not as stressful here as it is in Anaheim and Orlando. Our first check was security and we were first in line and it wasn't even open. Our second check was to make sure we could go in early and they just looked at the back of our card. We then had to wait in line at the gate until 8:30a and official opening. There was no finger print check and we just had to scan our card. After that we were just in the park. No holding area or rope drop or announcement from a friendly voice over the speakers.

We attempted to do the Crush ride first but it was down for mechanical issues. It's like the Avengers ride where the roller coaster cars themselves rotate. It seems like the type of ride that goes down frequently. Instead we went to Ratatouille. We first went to this ride in Orlando and it's a moving car but it's not bound by tracks in anyway. It can dance across the floor which is fitting as you are the rat and you are running under tables and through the kitchen trying not to get stepped on. It's even got smells though I think there was something off with the baguette smell.

Next up was Indiana Jones. It's a roller coast ride but Callie and I sat this one out as it goes upside down. I'm getting out of the roller coaster game in general but upside down is where I draw the line. For me it's not about fear. I just close my eyes and I can get through anything. I's about the fact that it takes me an hour for my stomach to recover after the ride which just isn't worth it. We then waited as Kerry, Ethan and Melissa did the Hot Wheels ride which is like one of those pirate ships that goes back and forth. This one is a bit extreme though as you go past vertical.

The cars area at this park was a bit of a disappointment. It's definitely not it's own land and the ride was like the Universal Studios back lot tour. You get in a train like vehicle pulled by a truck and it travels on a regular paved road. It goes past a few scenes with the cars characters and then stops in a front of a cliff where the rocks were mysteriously blackened and everything was wet. There is then a sudden accident with flames and a flood. The flames were very hot from where we were. You then head back to the start.

After a bit of shopping where Carter finally got his shoulder Remy, we headed to lunch. There are a few indoor areas at this park including an area where you can get lunch. The meals were typical 'American' style burgers and fries and definitely not cheap. $17 Euro for an adult meal. We got one adult and two kids meals and shared. The kids meal were a great deal at $9 Euro and included a burger not much smaller than the adult meal, coke and a Magnum ice cream which was probably $5 Euro's on it's own. 

Disneyland Paris has two parks. One is like typical Disneyland and other is a random hodgepodge of other areas, sort of like California Adventure. We started with a tour of main street and then went over to Haunted Mansion. It was pretty much identical to Anaheim on the inside though the outside was more like a wooden house rather than an old stone building. Of course at some point it stalled and we had to wait patiently in our coffins. I think this is when someone in a wheel chair is getting on and they have no way to do that without stopping everyone.

We then proceeded to do Pirates of The Caribbean which was way better than Anaheim. The outside had an interactive area with caves and a pirate ship. The inside line up was more interesting and the whole thing didn't smell as bad of chlorine. 

We then had proceeded to do "It's a Small World" which had a nice outside area and was pretty similar inside except that Canada was better represented with mountains and fewer Mounties. 

We also did the tea cups and a neat labyrinth for Alice and Wonderland before heading back to the other park. On our way out we found a secret pathway running along main street. I suppose it's not actually secret since it's a major path on the other side of the main street shops. It's quite useful for when there is a parade and main street is too busy. We got to the other park to do Aladdin before I decided I'd had enough and headed back to the hotel. Kerry, Melissa, Carter and Callie stuck around until 10:30p and did some of the big rides that now had shorter line ups.

Europe 2023 - Day 11 - Travel to Disneyland Paris

Today was going to be a less hectic day. Our only goal was to make our way to our hotel near Disneyland  Paris. We got packed and then headed to a local grocery store to have breakfast. There was one near our hotel that was like a Fresh Street or Choices. I think it's the nicest grocery store I've ever been to and not due to the layout but due to the food. There was a bakery, fresh fish, the fruit was all perfectly placed and there was a cheese section that probably had more kinds of cheese than most cities in Canada. It all looked as if it had just been put out today.

We had about six pastries and the whole thing came to only $10 Euro. Most prices here translate similarly to Canadian prices but this was much cheaper than anything we would get at home.

After breakfast we walked to the local Metro station to catch a train to Disneyland Paris. It was going to be two trains and would take us straight to the park. For $5 Euro each it was a great deal. We'd been warned about pick pocketers for the Paris Metro but I didn't really get that sense. Trains were clean and the clientele was no different than our Skytrain. My wallet and I made it.

When we got to the park things got a big confusing for me. Kerry planned most of the trip including booking the hotel we were staying at and I had thought we were staying at a Disney hotel and that there would be a shuttle to our hotel. Turns out we're staying in a Disney affiliated hotel and the shuttle was actually a bus. It wasn't that bad though because the bus left twice an hour and went directly to our hotel. there were perhaps a dozen stops along the way. We had been warned to have cash but turns out they accepted our card. It's $10 for the family each way but the hotel was a lot cheaper so well worth it.

The confusion over our hotel continued for all of us at this point. The shuttle was about 25 minutes and it dropped us off at this hut in the forest. We dropped off our bags since our room wasn't ready and started walking down a trail towards what appeared to be our hotel block. The hotel is actually part of a huge natural area and includes several hotel blocks, shopping and a wave pool. It really is a nice hotel but they try to ding you on a few thigs. The pool is open to the public so they charge for towels and we're not really clear on the toilet paper situation. Only one roll that we can find. 

The pool was great. It's got a wave pool, multiple lazy rivers and a ton of space. We must have looked confused going into the locker area because someone who clearly only spoke French came and tried to explain them to us. I think he felt we were monkeys. He was very exasperated trying to get his point across. We all speak a little French but he was much too quick for us to pick up anything. We figured it out eventually. After we finished with the pool it was time to make the 900m trek back to the front desk to get our bags and check out our hotel room. It is massive and more like a small apartment. Sleeps six with a full kitchen. 

Once we had finished unpacking we took the bus back to Disney Village which is the Paris version of Downtown Disney. You don't need tickets to get in and there is a mix of shops and restaurants. We tried to get reservations to the Rainforest Café but they didn't take them. Turns out their Downtown Disney is not very busy in the evening. The restaurant wasn't even full. Food was typical 'blah' for Rainforest Café but the atmosphere is fun. We celebrated the combination of Melissa and Kerry's birthday with a 'Volcano' desert.  

Europe 2023 - Day 10 - Our Third Day in Paris

We started our day by walking a few blocks towards the Eiffel Tower to catch a cab to Notre Dame Cathedral. We've averaged 25,000 steps a day for the past 9 days and our farthest point was going to be about 6k from our hotel so we made our way out by cab and walked back towards our hotel during the day. Notre Dame remains under construction since the devastating fire a few years ago. I first learned about this church on This Old House when they were inspecting the roof and talking about the potential of fire. 

Next up was Saint-Chapelle which was on our Museum pass. This was another chapel that I don't think has a regular church presence. Callie wasn't impressed as she said it was just one room, but I found the stained glass to be the nicest I've seen. It surrounded the main room and was in excellent condition. They had some billboards showing the restoration process for the cathedral which includes everything from replacing damaged stone work to cleaning off grime. I'm amazed at how they use lasers to clean off dirt and grime.

We found a nice place for a traditional French breakfast. I had the crepes and Carter had a croissant which he said was the best ever. The waiters had fancy aprons and most of the seats were positioned side by side looking towards the street. It wasn't very expensive and we enjoyed the experience. I'm not sure how I feel about this no tipping your server. In some ways it's great because you don't have to see a 30% increase between taxes and tip but in other ways, you can tell they are just there to get you efficiently through which I also like. I guess I do know how I feel. I like it.

We still had a bit of time to kill before our tickets to the Louvre so we walked down from the main street to a path that runs along the Senne. The river seems quite high though I don't actually have anything to compare to. There were a few homeless people under the bridge and lots of broken Heineken bottles but otherwise it a nice walk. The amount of stonework that had to be done by hand to enclose the river as has been done is impressive. It's all very well maintained despite being hundred's of years old. 

Even though we had a reserved ticket we still had to wait about 20 minutes to get into the Louvre. The ticket is when you show up to the line-up and they seem to let people inside in waves. You can technically just show up but they let the reservations in first and then let others in if there is room. The entrance is via the big glass pyramid and immediately underground is an enormous space that leads to the various wings of the museum. They did an excellent job of fitting in modern museum infrastructure into and old buildings.

The first major piece of artwork we came across was the Venus De Milo. I'm sure there is a reason something like this gets all the intention but I do find that some of the most famous pieces aren't really that impressive. There are definitely more complete and more detailed marble statues. This one was very nice but I feel there were others that deserved attention as well. I imagine it's based on who made it and when and who promoted it.

Callie and I then played a game we saw on Tik Tok described by John Green. He's the artist who wrote "The Fault in Your Stars" as well as several other books. The goal of the game is to look at a fancy painting and then determine if the artist had ever seen a baby. The example here clearly shows the artist had never actually seen a baby. This was just a chubby little man in baby scale. There are hundreds of examples of babies that look like tiny adults. We also found the game can be applied to other things like dogs and horses. We saw one picture where everything else in the painting was to scale and looked realistic and there was this after thought of a dog in the bottom that looked like it had been drawn by a child.

We did the obligatory march in front of the Mona Lisa. I suppose it's fun to think that we were in front of a painting that is known by billions and seen by millions every year. The room it's in had a roped off area with guards protecting it from tomato soup. The line up probably had 200 people in it and you got to see it for about 10 seconds before they rushed you through the exit. My one observation is that it was smaller than I was expecting by about 50%. My other observation is that they appear to have glass protecting most of the important pieces of art but not all.

The Louvre is also more than just paintings. They have many Egyptian artifacts including a mummy in a glass display case. I've seen a couple of mummies up close but this one was in much better condition and you could see very fine details for all of his body parts including his ears, fingers, nose etc. I didn't get a chance to read the tag but I'm assuming this one was real. Poor guy gets put away for eternity hoping to be awoken one day and ends up on display with millions of people staring at him every year.

Our next stop was The Orangerie Museum. This one had paintings done by Monet before he died. As far as I can tell he did them in place as the museum was built. At first I wasn't very impressed as the colors were very muted and if someone hadn't told me they were water lilies I would have had no idea. After a while though the colors grow on you. Callie informs me that the painting changes as you go as Monet was going blind and had difficulty finishing it. The room was supposed to be quiet but there were way too many people for that.

Our last museum of the day was the Musee D'Orsay. It's an old train station that has been converted into a museum. The statues here were very detailed and the architecture of the space lends itself well to a museum. The upper floors including more Monet and Van Gogh paintings. Although Starry Night is in New York we got to see one of his other Starry paintings. I think Callie said this was one of her favorite museums.
We finished the day off with dinner near our hotel. 

Europe 2023 - Day 9 - Our Second Day in Paris

It was our first full day in Paris and our hotel is about a kilometer away from the Eiffel Tower so we headed in that direction first. Our destination was actually the Arc De Triumph but we had to get a few shots of the tower first. It's a very nice tower. Nicely designed. Very tall. Stands out against the rest of the city. The areas leading up to it from our direction were not very clean. Certainly not as clean as areas in England. We'll get a better look at it later in the day.

We attempted to have a nice breakfast at a French café but were initially frightened away by prices and waiters wearing aprons. We felt we weren't worthy of these fancy cafe's. We ended up at something a bit lower key and had chocolate croissants and a lemon tart. We'll need to do some more exploring before we figure out what style café is for us. I did notice that most of the cafe's have their seating in tables for two with the chairs beside each other looking out towards the street. Not sure how I feel about this yet.

We made it to the Arc de Triomph. Luckily Callie knew in advance that there were stairs leading under the street. It would have become apparent to us anyway because there was way too much traffic coming and going to expect tourists to make it across over the street. We made it onto the other side and sorted out how our tickets worked. I initially didn't understand what they were for. I just thought it was a big arch. Turns out there are stairs leading up and down each side.

The stairs were very windy and take you up 284 steps to an area on the interior that has a gift shop, a lobby like area, as well as a bathroom. It even has WIFI. The arc was started by Napoleon but wasn't finished until several years after his death. It originally represented victory for the armies but has evolved to represent the tomb of the unknown soldier for Paris. The view from the top is amazing and it's interesting to see how so many streets radiate out with the Arc as the center. We also met up with Melissa while we were there even though we had intended to meet her later in the day.

From the Arc we walked down the Champs-Elysees. (Add a few random accents in there. My keyboard is in English mode right now.) We saw a number of yellow bike groups touring around town. Same brand but with different helmets at times. My guess is they were advertising the yellow bike company because everyone had the exact same bike which you wouldn't expect from a smaller club. The real teams are doing the actual tour right now. It ends on the 23rd which is after we leave. Probably for the best. I imagine it would have made our stay a lot more expensive.

After lunch at Five Guys (traditional French food I hear) we headed back to the Eiffel Tower. Kerry, Melissa, and Ethan had tickets to take the elevator to the second floor. It had already been messed up by the fireworks before because it was scheduled at 8:00a but was moved to 1:00p because the tower was closed. We dropped them off and it took them almost 3 hours in the rain to make their way onto the elevator. The tour company hadn't pre-purchased tickets so they had to stand in the slow line. They eventually made it. The rest of us had gone back to our hotel to wait.

After their elevator ride up the tower, we separated families again and we attempted to make it to the Musee D'Orsay. It was about a 40 minute walk that we thought we could make but were delayed a few times and ended up getting there at 5:15p. It didn't actually close until 6:00p but they stopped letting people in at 5:00p. We would still have time the following day to try again. This was on our museum pass that we got from my brother so we made plans to go back the next day.

Our next destination was to get to a book store Callie had wanted to go to. It was another 30 minutes from our hotel. We hit the 30,000 step mark again with walking. The bookstore was very neat. The first floor had books you could buy and the second had older books for reading. There was a line up to get in, but once you were in you could technically stay as long as you wanted. There was a no photo taking rule which I think disappoints the Instagrammers. The store itself is very old with timber frame construction. Callie picked up a few more specialty books for her collection.

At this point we caved and grabbed a taxi. We had to get back to the Eiffel Tower for our 8:00p tickets to walk up and we still had to have dinner. We had dinner at another Italian place. I'm sure there are millions of options for food in Paris but we found many menus seemed the same and there was some big differences in prices at places. Our food was still good. Our walk up was uneventful, with us getting through security, walking up and back down in less than an hour. View was great. Stairs weren't that hard or scary.

We finished our day avoiding getting scammed by street vendors. I did get asked to fill out a petition. Bart Schwab however, was unable to make a donation so they quickly went on to their next mark. I found it funny that they started by asking for people that speak English. I think it was so they could then quickly tell you the name of the group benefiting from the charity in French to make it sound official. Carter wanted to by a souvenir from one of the bed sheet sidewalk vendors but I said the 3 for 1 Euro was likely just a way to get you talking. He donated to the street dog instead.

Europe 2023 - Day 8 - Travel to Paris

It was our last day in Amsterdam and our train didn't leave until 3:11p so I got up early and rented a bike from our hotel. $9 Euro for 3 hours was a good price for the convenience of walking out of our hotel and hopping on a bike. It took a bit to get used to the single gear. There were actually two gears but it was geared much tougher than I'm used to so I kept it in first gear most of the time. The bike also had pedal backwards braking which I haven't had since I had a BMX when I was 10. Travel was easy until about 8:00a when bike rush hour really got going. I didn't have a destination and just drove really far and then came back.

I did have one destination for my ride. I wanted to find the 3D printed bridge. It was made by robotic welders and it was much lighter weight then I was expecting. Where there was structure it was hollow. They 3D printed it off site and then had it lifted into place. It looks somewhat temporary so I'm not sure if they move it around or not. It's sitting on top of the two sides of the canal. This was an early version of 3D printing with steel and I think they've advanced since this. Pretty amazing that they can do this sort of thing with metal. 

After my morning ride we got packed, checked our bags with the front desk and then started walking towards breakfast. I stopped by the local hardware store. Most of the businesses in the area we are in are not big box in any way. They are local businesses with just the things that locals need. The hardware had an old style feel to it and the two guys working immediately came to ask what I was looking for. I was only browsing and took a quick walk down stairs where they had the lumber section. Different continent but the same lumber I work with.

Carter had wanted to have a real breakfast so we stopped at Mama Pancakes and had a mixture of English and Dutch breakfasts. I had a Dutch pancake with bacon. They cooked the bacon right into the pancake which I was expecting since they described the bacon as a topping rather than a side. It was bacon but I guess not Canadian bacon which I'm still trying to understand. It was the same cut but not smoked and not cooked very crispy. Pancake was good and I had the 'Caramel' syrup which was okay but definitely not Maple syrup.

We still had a bit of time until our train so I looked up the local coin store. My goal was simply to come back from Europe with some random coinage from all the countries we were visiting. I realize the Euro was in three of the countries but they still have their own versions and coins can end up in any of the other countries. I walked into the sore and asked if I could see a tray he had with random coins. He muttered something about typically only selling by the pound and I started perusing. I pulled out $20 Euro and asked how many coins I could get for that. He said I could take the lot. It was definitely worth more than that, just in the effort it would take me to ever collect that many coins from that many years from that many countries so I gave him $30. So far I've found coins from the 1700's and a silver dollar from the US. It's probably not worth much more than the $30 I paid but It will be a lot of fun inspecting them all.

We got to the train station about an hour before hand knowing that it wasn't going to take us long to check in. Once again, our train wasn't even listed yet. We eventually figured out which platform to go to and as we were waiting, the sign switched to indicate that our train had been cancelled due to logistical issues. There were many very confused passengers looking for answers. Several attendants soon arrived including the stewardesses for our train and said the train was stuck at the airport so we had to get it from there. They said 'stick with us because it won't leave without us'. We took a train to the airport and found our train. All was well.

We attempted to figure out the Metro to get to our hotel in Paris but there was only one out of six ticket machines working and we didn't really even understand which line we were going to take. We decided it would be easier to catch a cab. This wasn't a horrible decision except for the fact that it was Bastille Day and roads were closed everywhere. The recommended route was about 8k but we ended up on a route that was more like 15k. We also were stuck in traffic for about twice what it probably should have taken us. We eventually got to about 10 blocks from our hotel and used our poor French to ask the driver to let us out.

Our hotel room isn't as nice as what we had in Amsterdam but it's relatively new and bigger than I think we were expecting. Separate rooms for shower and toilet and bunk beds. It's also got USB charging everywhere which is handy. It was 8:00p already so we went to the store to get a few things to eat and then went back to our room. At 11:00p the fireworks at the Eiffel Tower started. We didn't really feel like getting too close so we walked down the street a bit to see it from the side. I had gone down on my own and watched the first half before going  back to the hotel lobby to watch it on the 8 foot by 12 foot screen made up of 9 TV's. A great view without the hassle of all the people. 

My Long Lost Uncle Andre

Introduction

This is an evolving story and I'll probably have to update this page several times but I wanted to gather some of the background information into a single location. 

It would seem that I have a half uncle on my mom's side, born just after WWII. His dad is my maternal grandfather and my family connected with him via "23 and Me" so we're fairly certain this is all real. Neither Andre (My half Uncle) nor myself knew Robert Jackson (My Grandfather), or 'Bob' as he is referred to in the article below, as he passed away when my mother was 15.

Below you'll find all the information I have to date 

• We start with an article that was translated by my cousin from Dutch to English about my uncles search for his family starting in 1992
• I've added in what I know about the "23 and Me" genetic test.
• There is then some additional correspondence and background from my Uncle after the connection via "23 and Me"
• We finish up with my family meeting up with him in his home town of Amsterdam.

I'm still hoping I can find his news paper ads that he placed in Canada and his interaction with Canadian media.

Hope you enjoy!

Dutch Article

The war is not over for Andre Swart. Although he will be 75 this fall, he still has that one big question: who was the Canadian soldier who fathered me?

It must have gone something like this: in the summer of 1945, Maria Geertruida van Loenen and the Canadian soldier 'Bob' got to know each other in Nijmegen. She then works in the Prince Hendrik Barracks where he is stationed, awaiting his return to Canada. There are black and white photos of a Christmas party in the barracks and there is a picture of the two lovers in Volendammer costume, apparently taken during a trip to the fishing village. “I conclude from that that they have been dating each other for a long time,” says Andre. “But that is not certain.”

What is certain is that he will be born on Saturday 14 September 1946 in the Wilhelmina Gasthuis in Amsterdam. He is three days old when he comes into the home of a childless couple from Amsterdam as a foster child. “He was 36, she was 35. They had responded to a newspaper ad offering a child. That happened more often then.”

 

The mothers who placed the advertisements were unmarried pregnant women who, in their desperation, offered their unborn babies as foster children. In many cases they had no money to raise a child on their own. Giving up their baby was a way to hide the shame of unmarried motherhood. Because girls with a child 'without' a father were looked down on at the time. Andre Swart later heard from his foster parents why the choice fell on them: “Because they lived in Amsterdam South. That was known as a neat neighborhood.”

 

He says that as a child he always felt welcome with the father and mother who raised him. The word adoptive parents does not pass his lips. “I see them as my parents. Period."

 

It was never a secret that they are not his biological father and mother. “As toddlers, they already told you how it was. I don't think it ever had an impact. They have been very loving parents to me.”

 

In 1947, another letter arrived in which his biological mother inquired whether her son was doing well. Then it stopped contacting. Liberation child Andre received a technical education, got married and had a career in technology. The question of where he came from slumbered. Until in 1998 he wanted to know more about his background. He found out Maria Geertruida's address through the municipality of Nijmegen, after which he sent her a letter. "She replied that she had had a terrible life and that she did not want to be reminded of the past."

 

Later, her other son — a half-brother whose existence he did not know — took over the post. He contacted Andre, after which a one-off meeting came between the mother and her 'forgotten' son. “She said she was no longer sure if my father's name was Bob and she no longer had an address for him. The letters she received from him after the war were gone. I still blame her for that. She only had the photos from that time where they were together.”

 

In the end, thanks to questions from his half-brother to mom, some backgrounds emerged: her Canadian 'Bob' knew at the time that she was pregnant. That's why he had proposed to her in a letter to come to Canada with the baby. What the returned soldier did not know was that the young mother had already had a child before. So the half-brother in question. Emigrating would therefore mean that she had to abandon her oldest son. Breaking with 'Bob' and giving up her youngest son was therefore her escape route. Before she would find a new husband, she stayed with her parents for a while with her eldest son. To cover the shame of unmarried motherhood, the family told everyone that the little toddler was their youngest child. The fact that their eldest daughter was the boy's mother was kept secret.

 

Meanwhile, Andre's biological mother has passed away. He realizes that "Bob" probably isn't alive either. He is still in contact with his half-brother, who has never known who his father is. After Andre retired in 2010, he made another attempt through Canadian media to find 'Bob'. In vain. “I only had those pictures. Not even sure of his name, let alone an army number or something. That offered too few starting points.”

 

A search at a reunion of Canadian veterans in Nijmegen and a letter campaign in Canada also came to nothing. “Of course I started looking too late. Unfortunately."

 

What had he wanted to know from his father? "Nothing special. Just what else he has done with his life. And if I look like him. In the photos from back then, he looks just like me when I was in my twenties. I would also like to know if he was technical. Maybe I got my technical talent from him.”

 

Recently he had to go to the hospital. There they inquired about common illnesses in his family. "I said I had no idea because I don't know my family."

"23 and Me"

We pick things up at Christmas time in 2020. My cousins wife purchased a "23 and Me" test for him for Christmas. He sat on it for close to a year before doing the test and waiting for the results. After some initial enjoyment of seeing where in the world his DNA came from and how much Neanderthal he is, nothing happened until the following Christmas when he was clearing out his e-mails and found one from "23 and Me" indicating they had discovered a match. He had already seen several 'matches' of less than 6% but this one was close to 12%. People can often share a few percentage points of DNA without it being anything close but anything above 6% and you are into a family tree you can draw on a single page.

Below is the first correspondence between my cousin who took the test and my half Uncle.

Letter from My Uncle  

  In June 2021 I visited Recherchebureau (Detective Agency) Leijs & Partners - hereinafter referred to as the agency - with the request to try to find 'Bob'. When I spoke about my father/begetter I always referred to 'Bob', that was because I had once heard someone say that all Canadian men are probably called Bob, I thought that was a nice idea, hence 'Bob'.

   The agency's investigation went well and in September I received a first report on what DNA matches I have in different databases. On December 29 I was called by Els Leijs with the announcement that they had found 'Bob': Robert Lloyd George Jackson, so his name was indeed Bob. I was very happy with this result and expected a report with address details and an invoice from the agency. Nothing. Called the agency on February 23, 2022 and spoke to Els, she thought she had sent me a message. Not so. Finally an email from Els yesterday in which your email address, the lack of information from the agency is the reason that I was not able to contact you earlier.

   On September 14, 1946, my natural mother Maria Geertruida van Loenen gave birth to me in the Wilhelminagasthuis (Wilhelmina Hospital) in Amsterdam. Two days later she handed me over to foster parents who raised me lovingly: Piet Swart and Ali Smit.

   Everyone knows who he or she resembles, I don't, that's why I decided to find out Maria Geertruida's address and wrote her in January 1992 with a number of questions about my origin. I received a very angry letter from her, she had had a terrible life, did not remember his name and did not want to contact me, but did send a number of photos of 'Bob'. Then I knew who I look like. In 1994 I contacted her again and it turned out that I had a half-brother – born in 1944, father unknown, possible incest.

   With the commemoration of the liberation in 1995 there were many Canadians in the Netherlands, after all, the veterans were getting older, in 1995 the liberation was fifty years ago and many were still alive, hence a large-scale commemoration. I then went on ‘hunt for Canadian’ in Nijmegen with my half-brother, hoping to learn a bit more about 'Bob' from the photos or maybe even find him. I then also spoke to Maria Geertruida, according to her his name was indeed Bob and he came from the province of Ontario. Our search in Nijmegen had no results, but I did find out that the photos were taken in Nijmegen, I also met other Canadians who were also on 'my' photos, but no one knew who 'Bob' was. In the years that followed, I also made some attempts to find 'Bob', but that was also unsuccessful.

   The reason I went looking again was because I really wanted to know what kind of man he was, I myself am fairly technically minded and I was curious if he was, was he a nice man, those kinds of questions and more, questions I can now ask your father or your aunt. I can come to you with my wife AnneMieke Sprenger to get to know you, although I look up to the flight with a mouth cap, but that has to be done. I am looking forward to our meeting, find it very exciting but it also makes me nervous.

 I hope to hear from you soon.

Kind regards

Families Unite in 2023

It's now early 2023 and two of the Jackson families and the Schwab families have been independently planning trips to Europe. It just so happened that we would all be in Amsterdam on the same day!

Bob, Andre's half brother, met with him on the 12th and they spent hours catching up. Andrew is on the left and my full uncle, also called Robert Jackson, is on the right.

The rest of the families met up on the 13th.

Very happy to have met my new family member. Our visit was a lot of fun and we had a genuine connection with Andre and his wife. They are already planning a trip to Canada in the spring to see where his father grew up in Prince George, BC.

Crazy!

Europe 2023 - Day 7 - Our Second Day in Amsterdam

We had booked tickets to the Anne Frank house and it was another 45 minute walk to get there so we left with enough time to get breakfast on the way. Booking the Anne Frank house was an ordeal. It comes available a week at a time and by the time we knew this it had already been booked up. Kerry checked the website daily for weeks hoping that tickets would free up. They had freed up for the day before when we couldn't go but eventually they came up for 9:30a on our full day. We found a nice breakfast place on the way with food I pronounced very badly. Too many syllables.

The Anne Frank house was obviously very moving. I hadn't realized they had actually been captured after D-Day and died just before the various camps were liberated. I also didn't realize how much space they had. I had expected just a tiny room but there were a few floors with multiple rooms. Still not much for 8 people. The tour was well paced with personal speakers you held up to your ear. I've never been to a museum where I read every single placard. They finished the museum off with a warning about how the Nazi's came to be in the first place that was too similar to today's politics.

Kerry had wanted to do a canal cruise and there just happened to be one right outside the Anne Frank house. At first we tried to figure out how to download the app and buy tickets but they came up to us and said we just had to get on and they would take care of everything. Five minutes later and we were on our way. The tour was narrated automatically in languages based on who was on board and was about 75 minutes. We went through some smaller canals and then into some of the larger ones. The family may have napped for a portion of the journey. As Callie indicated we had an $18 Euro nap. 

After our expensive nap we checked off the Amsterdam McDonalds. We were going to get hash browns in the morning but apparently they don't have them here and we settled for a drink instead. We were back now for some chicken nuggets since Carter felt the drink didn't count. We were headed out to meet my long lost Uncle Andre and were going to take the train but we couldn't quite figure out how to pay so we decided we would walk instead. The first part of the trip was interesting but the second part was more modern with more cars. 

I won't provide too many details on my long lost uncle in this post but it involves a Canadian man, a Dutch woman, an interaction during the second world war and then we pick the story up again with a "23 and Me" test in 2022. I'll dedicate an entire post to the story as I attempt to piece together the details. We met him and his wife at a café along with my Aunt and Uncle and my cousin Jesse's family. Lunch was excellent and my new found Uncle and his wife were great people. They might come to Canada for a visit next spring where hopefully I'll be able to piece together more of the story. 

Our hotel was actually closer to the café then the trip we did to get there so we walked back again. n time we got a better look at the windmill that's near our hotel. I'm not entirely sure what it's story is but it's a very large authentic looking windmill. I know they used to be used to move water around but that's been replaced by electric pumps so I think it's more of a historic site now. We got back to our hotel and Kerry did another load of laundry to get us through to the end of our trip. Washing was good but drying not so much. Clothes everywhere around our room drying.