The Canals in Gouda!
THE HAGUE, GOUDA, HOLLAND
For you sissy...
To get to The Hague and then Gouda, we had to take a train out of Amsterdam as it about an hour away..
So we decided to make a day of it..and reminisce on Annie's behalf.
Even just sitting on the train to The Hague and looking out the window at the bicycles, the windmills, the tulip fields...the scenery....had me reflecting on what Annie had told me about Holland all those years ago....
My sister Annie lived here, in Gouda, in a house called RAAM 68. I'd heard all the stories, about the people she lived with, the house, her experiences, the hells angels....Mirjiam, Lorna, Potter, Norman..
And now i was going to go to where she lived.
And feel what she felt.
Or at least get a bit of a feel about the place.
First of all we went to the Hague. Den Haag the Dutch call it. We got out of the station and looked at the maps and around at the Hague. It wasn't what i expected.
In a way it was industrialised and not as quaint and gorgeous as i had expected it.
I asked at the Tourist centre if they knew of a pub called the Carte Blanche. They were really helpful and looked it up on the internet but no Carte Blanche could be found. Perhaps they were looking for a hotel we decided later, and not a small pub that i knew it to be from Annie's descriptions.
We got a map and walked around the Hague and found it got more beautiful as we veered away from the train station. Some places have the whole hive of activity right there, in the hub, around the station, but the Hague was deeper than that.
And the further we ventured the more artistic and 'Dutch' it felt. I don't know why, but by Dutch, i mean creative and colourful and free and almost spiritual.
There were Heineken signs and Amstel beer signs all over the place, displaying the pub culture so we decided to venture into one of these places after feeling a bit despondent because we hadn't really found any familiar...the names of places where Annie worked...Lummus nederland and armaco...
The pub we found was called Nderaar. It sold Amstel beer and so we sat on a little elevated table with two stools and soaked up the atmoshere. The table looked a bit like a beer barrel. It was warm and friendly and had lots of old bottles and colourful old pictures on the wall.
Photos tell the story so we got the camera out to take pictures and the gorgeous barmaid, with her Dutch accent said, 'I take picture of two of you'. SO there we were, perched, once again with our beers in our photos! Honestly this has almost become our call song...our statement...us with a beer!!
She was quite talkative too...telling us about Holland's pubs..and how each pub can only sell one beer. We were in an Amstel pub so we drank Amstel. But in a Heniken Pub you drink Heneiken! Heneiken is the 'National' beer of Holland!! When i told her i thought it was a German beer she said, 'Don't tell the Dutch people THAT!'
When we asked if she knew whether the Carte Blanche was in THe Hague or in Gouda....she just said that was a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PLACE!
So...we thought we'd better not get settled in...and we'd better get to Gouda or we'll end up staying there the night. The last train out of Gouda, we were told when we bought the tickets, was 10pm.
I bought a colourful arty scarf in The Hague..which reminded me of Annie....as it started getting colder than we had dressed for..and headed off on our half hour trip to Gouda.
More relflection.
On the way from the Hague to Gouda i was thinking...gee, this is the trip that Annie did from work every day.
When i used to envision her in Gouda, when i was in my teens....she in her twenties, it seemed so far away. So distant. ANother land, another country. And yet, he i was, right there...looking out at scenery she would have looked out at...
It made it all the frustrating because i was trying to message her on my mobile and couldn't get through. Grr. At one stage, we were sitting on the train, just about approaching Gouda station and i got a message from her! Saying she was sitting in the mall in Brisbane thinking of us!!!! We were VERY MUCH thinking of her.
Must have been reading each other's thoughts.
But why coudn't i text back. Ended up texting mum and couldn't get through there until really late. I'm sure i woke her up.
And as the night progressed...i wanted to text even more because the night revealed changes in Gouda.
It was funny when we got off the station in Gouda. We were like kids going to find treasure. Where was Raam 68. Where was Komijnsteeg 57. Where was the Carte Blanche.
Come hell or high water. We were going to find these places and report back to Annie what we had found.
We took photos of the huge map in the centre of the town because after asking at the Railway Station (advice from Annie) the guy, who looked younger than Sam, said, ' The Raam, I've heard of that!!' Geepers..we thought, well obviously it's a remote little street, how will we find it. And it had just gone 6pm and we didn't have a map. He told us to ask in the square where all the pubs were situated in a circle.
So we went about asking...where's the Raam, where's the Carte Blanche. Eventually a gorgeous young chef came to help us and even walked into the square with us telling us where we could find the long street named the Raam.
We walked towards where we thought his directions would lead us to the street and got a bit sidetracked because honestly Gouda is the most gorgeous scenic canal town and we were just blown away by the .. quaintnes for want of a better word. It was just SO COBBLY..and had little narrow streets with little A framed houses that looked like they had smiles on their faces. So colourful and bright, yet old and worn as if they held secrets.
Some of the little canals had obviously not been touched because they were green with mildew. We saw a row of ducks floating through with their beaks ducking in and out of the green water making little tiny streams behind them....
THe names were all Straats..or steegs...then to our excitement we found RAAM.
And we were filled with joy. And nostalgia, on Annie's behalf.
It is a long street.
We followed it down..in awe almost. Because the buildings looked as if they were waiting for us. People were on their bicycles going home....the sky was still blue and yet almost ready to go down, the air was fresh.
And we were about to find Raam 68. The house where IT ALL WENT ON. (You'll have to read the book Annie is writing to find out more about this!)
The right side had high numbers, all odd, leading down...157, 155...
The right side had lower numbers going down...86,94
Where was Raam 68?
We found a shop...Raam 62.
And a large vacant block of land.
We checked either side of the land.....all numbers BUT Raam 68.
It had been demolished.
I was in shock. And didn't realise i'd feel this as keenly as i did. It was a real blow. I felt sad for Annie that the house she'd lived in was no longer. I felt grief for a few moments and became tearful.
I SO wanted to see where she lived.
And it wasn't to be......
I grabbed a girl as she walked outside the not there anymore house....in amost a desperation, and asked her where the house was. She said she'd lived in the area for a year and it was vacant when she arrived.
We walked around the neighbourhood for a long time. We walked the streets where we knew she walked, to the train station. It was alike a journey from long ago, but one we didn't take. It was another person's journey and yet i felt it were my own as the memories she'd implanted in my imagination were acute.
We found the little canal close by..and the beautiful windmill as well. There were boats parked in the canal with 'Gouda' written on them. We took a lot of pictures....
And then went back and knocked on the shop next door. It was closed but we had to know what happened.....
The heard the old man came clumsily down the stairs and open the door...and thankfully he was talkative. We were hoping he wouldn't be cranky for banging on his door at this time....which was about 7.30pm by then..
And he said the houses there were condemmed and were demolished about 3 years ago....
He said it was changing in the area...
And so we found out about all were going going to find out..and had one last look down the street, up the street, and all around the streets and stared searching for Komijnsteeg but it was getting late, no one could help us...and apart from greeting all the cats in the area, we knew we weren't going to find that street unless we knew exactly where it was situated...so we headed off to find something to eat because we were starving!
We realised we hadn't eaten lunch! So absorbed in finding these places of my sister.
The Carte Blanche seemed like a place we just were not going to find in Gouda this time.
And as we were walking we saw a couple of tired little cafes that were deserted and looked unapetising..
Until...On Grownendaal Street, about 50 metres from the Raam, we came across a little spanish cafe called TAPAS. It was bursting at the seams....so, thinking it must be THE place in town, we entered and hoped to find a table.
It was absolultely the BEST FOOD we'd eaten in ages!! Pesto dip with a great bottle of recommended local wine...Fresh, fresh food...Fresh chicken...fresh veges...SO NICE!
The atmosphere was magical. And after a really emotional day..and feeling disappointed for Annie....we enjoyed this dinner and thought she would enjoy this should she come back here.
This is it, the Tapas Restaurant!
Our last train to Amsterdam from Gouda was leaving at 10...
So, in a last gasp, at 9pm we set off to ask at some more pubs as to the whereabouts of the CARTE BLANCHE!!
AND...by the stroke of good luck, at a pub called, Pyramide we came across a barman that looked about the vintage we were looking for and he KNEW THE NAME!!!
He said it was now a restaurant called, 'DE BEHRSKLOK'
And he wrote the directions on a little beer coaster for us! (just looked like a series of scribbles ..we laughed at that!) and yes, he remembered it was the Carte Blanche.
So off we headed. To find this pub!
And there it was..on the corner of these two little cobblestone crossroads. In very, very small writing...De Behrsklok. We could hardly see that..but we did see the BIG WRITING which was, 'JARDAN JAN'. Which, of course, is the beer it sells!! It seems the name of the beer is what is in lights!
In we go...............
And it had obviously been refurbished.
We orded the local beer at the bar which is still there..and peered around the place and saw the restaurant that is in a little cove area. We asked a few questions of the guy behind the bar and he said, 'She will remember!'
And so the girl waitress came over to us and said she did remember the Carte Blanche. I did wonder...she looked VERY YOUNG!!
Anyway...she said it changed names about 12 years ago...and had remained empty for about 6 months before they started refurbishing. She showed us where the roof was really low and where the 'swimming table' was! (pool table!) She said she was 24.....
We told her it was my sister's old haunt...(I think she thought i was literally talking double dutch) and that she lived here..and she was interested in that..and the fact that she was writing a book....
But it was getting very busy in the restaurant and we couldn't continue the conversation and so i wasn't able go into depth about her history there..but she must have been a girl when it was like that.
I asked her about the 'Hells Angels;' and she laughed and said they were bikers!
We imagined she must have known someone from back then..or being a daughter of someone or the owners or something...
She was busy waiting on tables...and the guy then told us there were old black and white photos in the restaurant if we wanted to look...
So we did. And took pics for Annie to see if she could identify any familiar faces....
And then...
IT WAS TIME TO RUN!
ANd run we did...all the way to the train station, dodging the million bicycles outside, to catch the last train back to Amsterdam!
And that was Gouda.
Quite a revelation.
And a 'going back in time' for Annie.
I'm so glad we went there...it filled in a lot of gaps i've had about Gouda..and all the stories i've heard..and it gave me a little more of a glimse of the life my beautiful sister led, all those years ago...
