My holiday started with the well anticipated arrival of my
family all the way from Cape Town. My
host father Peter and I went to go pick up my brother and father from Schipol
airport. My mother was only expected to arrive later that day as she had spent
the last couple of days working in Blackpool, England. It was absolutely
fantastic to see my father and brother again and even though the weather in
Holland was absolutely dull, the mood was far from it. I must say after having
travelled all through the night they looked exhausted but non-the less we still
headed off to Amsterdam after we dropped their things off in Hilversum.
We took the train through to Amsterdam Central but
unfortunately for us so did hundreds of others.
We could only just squeeze into the entrance of the carriage and to add
insult to injury the air-con wasn’t working. Now I know I’ve complained about
the crap weather in Holland being wet, grey, raining and or cold all the time
but during the time they call summer you can add humid to the list. Yes, it was
incredibly humid while we were stuffed in a non air conditioned and full train
all the way to Amsterdam.
After losing several kilos in our sauna train we had arrived
in Amsterdam which even though I have been to a couple of times now, still
amazes me. Now we only had the afternoon in Amsterdam as we had to fetch my
mother at the airport later on so we had to choose what we wanted to see
carefully. We could go for a canal tour, see many of the famous history and art
museums such as the Van Gogh and Anne Frank. Naturally we decided on the
Heineken brewery experience. Lack of female presence had nothing to do with
it...
Now we had our heading but without a direction. I knew it
was south of the station but exactly where south was the problem. Luckily us
being in a first world country finding a map was easy and we were soon on our
way south, the right south. We walked passed Dam square and then down the
Kalverstraat, the Dutch ‘Oxford street’. We then found ourselves in Rembrantplein
before we made it to Heineken. At first sight I thought it was rather small for
a brewery but we soon discovered that it was in fact the gift shop and the
actual ‘Heineken Experience’ was another half hour walk. Luckily they had a
boat! A boat we could ride for free! This meant we got our canal tour anyway
and goes to show that men are always right when there is a decision to make.
Most of the time. And or only when food, drink and sport are involved. 
Hence the three Jessop men cruised the canals of Amsterdam
while sipping some bruski’s on their way to a brewery. Seemed like the holiday
had officially started. I have failed to mention the red-faced almost falling
off the boat hanging young man who served us our beers, but that is pretty much
everything there is to say about him. That and he looked like Dirk Kuyt.
An hour or so, a couple of free beers, new knowledge about
beers and our very own bottle of ‘Jessop’ beer later we had finished our
brewery experience and were ready to pick up my mother from Schipol. After a
pizza dinner we caught a train to the airport and met up with Peter who would
drive us all back to Hilversum. It was great to see my mom again and even
better to have my whole family together.
My first day of an unforgettable holiday was complete.
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