Giethoorn

We found Giethoorn to be a lovely town, with only canals, foot or bike paths — streets come only to the edge of town. We stopped at a small grocery store and sat in the camper and looked at maps and brochures for a moment. We got out of the camper, then found we had locked the keys inside. When we asked people in the store for a wire coat hanger, an English speaking woman overheard and said she had done the same thing, just a few days ago. She invited us to her home in Giethoorn for a cup of tea, after we got the camper door opened.

It was too easy to get the Dodge door open, then we went to visit “Cocksie.” Their house is very nice, and has a thatched roof. The outside and the roof must be preserved “as is” when any repairs are made. In this Dutch home there was a fireplace in the living room, with a loft above. The kitchen looks like a kitchen in an American home. Even the refrigerator door is paneled to match the kitchen cabinets. Outstanding.

Cocksie fixed tea and told us stories about the war, including telling us about the year and a half she had spent in a German concentration camp. Her husband has been in the Dutch Army for thirty years, and is now the Colonel in charge of the Commandos. He is the real life “John Wayne” of The Netherlands, and looks it. However, a few days before our visit, while he was having a physical examination for promotion to General, the doctor found he had a heart problem. So he retired a day or two ago.

He said that as a youngster during the war, he had to steal food, etc., so his family could live. Even though he has been working with the German Army for many years and has many very good German friends, the Colonel can’t get the bad feeling for Germany out of his mind.

When we visited six years later, Cocksie was talking on the telephone when we knocked on her door. When the call was complete, she said John had a heart by-pass operation a few weeks earlier, was at home now, but is not feeling well. She had just been on the phone with the Doctor and was told to take him to the hospital, right now. We offered to take him, laying down, in the camper, but she said he would not like to admit he was feeling that bad.

We hope all went well for the Colonel and his caring wife.