The Final Leg of the Journey

Apologies for the lack of communication over the last couple of days.  Being on the move to the total of 32,000 steps yesterday around Amsterdam can give you an idea of why.  The day prior we had a morning at one of the most amazing warfare museums I have ever seen, Overloon. Overloon was an extensive museum of collections from the area of items left over from the war. When I say items, that is underwhelming. There were hundreds of planes, tanks, guns in an area of the building, many of which still run. In fact, I think it is once as month, the owners who have donated the machinery are allowed to come in and play with their toys!!! We really needed a few hours at this museum to see everything, but with 1000 Canadian students there also and all hyped up to get to an amusement park, I was ok to leave when we did. Cue picture dump...

Following Overloon and a short drive we let the kids loose at Efteling Theme Park, and it was a great way to end the days of heavy lifting representing PEI and Canada at the memorials around Europe.  Efteling allowed us adults to let loose a little bit as well as we joined the kids on the rides no matter how terrified I was at first.  The girls got me through the first free fall the edge and I may or may not have screamed a little during that free fall.  

After spending the day at the theme park we were on our way to Amsterdam and the final leg of the journey.  The next day would be another one filled with historical museums.  In the morning we arrived at the Dutch Resistance Museum and learned even more about what the Dutch people endured during the Nazi occupation in the 1940s. It was an extensive museum detailing the plight of the over 250,000 Jews deported from the region by the Germans.  The prior days we had seen the remnants of these deportations to concentration camps like Vught, but here we learned how it all played out and the decisions that were left to the Dutch people(non-Jews) who were forced to join the Nazi movement or possibly be shot or imprisoned if they didn’t.  Extremely tough decisions, and this museum showed the outcomes of both sides.  This would be a significant precursor to the group's visit to the Ann Frank museum later in the day.

The kids were allowed a couple of hours of free time to shop in the Damrak area and I think they made the most of it as you will see, either by your bank accounts or theirs.  As one group ventures off with Fiona to Ann Frank, I keep a group back for exploring and more shopping prior to heading to supper.  Prior to rejoining the group, we need to walk a decent distance to meet them and  thanks to Dora the Explorer, aka Paige Thompson, our group made it to supper.  

The reminders of the past are all over Amsterdam. One benefit to putting 32,000 steps in is that you also see a lot of history. Located all throughout the city you will find the stumble stones or schtumpelsteps more locally known. These stones if you look close enough have names imprinted on them. I’ll let you figure out who they are remembering.

The story begins and ends with good ole Google. We set off with the group to meet up with the Ann Frank group.  As we start up Damstraat, we gte 15 minutes into the adventure and all of a sudden Google maps re-routes us and says it will be minimum 30 minute walk to meet up.  Kelly and Shannon come to the front and wonder what is going on and all of a sudden their maps do the same???? We head back down Damstraat, yes the entire 15 minute walk plus another 10 and google reroutes me again in the wrong direction.  IN comes Dora/Paige and says she has been following us and watching the fiasco unfold and says she knows exactly how to get to supper.  I say go ahead and stay up here with me.  My phone is still giving up poor directions and not close to Paige’s, but how can I not trust her, she is exuding confidence in the adventure.  Sure enough we arrive 30 seconds before dinner and had walked about 4.5 KM to get there.  Sorry, many of them will never want to walk again after this trip, you will be stuck driving them everywhere for sure.

Supper is at Pannekoeken and it is traditional Dutch pancakes, weird supper for sure as you had to choose between sweet(powdered sugar, fruits, Nutella) or savory(ham, chicken, cheese), Shannon and I go splitsies to taste both, interesting for sure. Overall the meals every day were great for the kids, traditional in many ways, and the kids enjoyed it the majority of the time.

Unlike the other days, it is cool, an actual drop of 18 degrees from our days in Paris and Belgium.  The group is headed to the canal for a tour of Amsterdam, in an enclosed canal cruise, which is warm and completely dry.  Amsterdam is a really interesting city, more bikes than cars, and a very friendly lot of people from all over the world.  It also has its obvious noted idiosyncrasies, with the legalization of use of marijuana, at any time of the day, we can all attest to.  

The city is also famous for its XXX insignia, and it's not what you think, the 3 Xs are representative of the early ages of Amsterdam and represent the 3 things that could destroy the city.  More often associated with pornography today, they actually stand for WATER, FIRE and the PLAGUE.  Obviously first water, as much of the city was reclaimed land from the coastal waters, actually I think it is about 25% of all the Netherlands is reclaimed land.  Much of the early city was built with wood and the city has suffered through two major fires in its history and of course the last plague and it's pretty self explanatory throughout Europe hundreds of years ago.  Today, I would potentially add a couple of more Xs to the group, bikes for sure and uncooperative trams when the doors won’t open.  No soldiers left behind, completely, but we did have to leave a few behind on occasion, proving why the buddy system works!!!

Following the canal tour one group is headed back to Ann Frank while the afternoon group does a little more shopping at Damrak and then we will head back to the hotel for the night.  The grand total was over 32,000 steps on my Garmin today. They put in a shift and we need some sleep to get ready for another long day of sitting around  but we will be home soon. I am soon going to turn it over to Shannon Dunphy, who through her family has a very special connection to the war efforts of Canada, and made it more special by travelling with Alexis, her daughter on this trip.

"Did you know....?" Did you know over 1 million served in WW2? Did you know over 44,000 died for our freedom. As we sat for ceremonies in Bergen Op Zoom this week, we, the younger generations, were given the task to create a legacy of Remembrance. We must keep telling the stories. We must ask others to keep telling the stories and make the connections to the events of 80 years ago. We must never forget the sacrifices so many have made for us.

 

This trip is not only a trip of a lifetime to share with my daughter or a trip to check off bucket list items. It is a trip that is making emotional connections for me. My grandfather, Roland "Ron" Hochu was a Dispatch Rider in WWII. He rode the countryside of Europe delivering orders, messages, and documents between divisions. He was a prime target for snipers, shelling and every obstacle you can think of in a war torn landscape. He survived to tell his story later in life. I'm so proud of him and have come to realize what he and his comrades really endured for us. 

Now my children can know his story and I hope their children will as well. 

As I stood in several cemeteries over the last few days, over the graves of several soldiers that I never knew, I found myself overwhelmed with emotion and thanks. Tyne Cot, the largest commonwealth cemetery, formed the resting place for thousands of men. The only feeling I could sense was awe for so many men.  In Bergen Op Zoom, the soldier I paid respects to was from the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry, aged 19. I'm from a different Hamilton and my daughter is 18. Another connection that struck me, drawing me further into the sense of importance to keep telling stories. Perhaps I can learn about the story of private C.E. Simms. 

The past few days have been like a trip through my heart. I wish my mom would have come. But I still reeled through memories of a granddaughter- grandfather bond and now great granddaughter. I pictured him riding rough terrain with an important message in his pack. I saw in my mind what he and those men were doing 80 years ago. I tried to show all my respect to each soldier laid to rest. I listened to choirs and bugles that brought me to tears. Even if there's just a spec of change in them, I see these experiences making a difference to the students travelling with me. They will now help. Maybe not tomorrow but they will. Stories won't be lost and we won't forget. Did you know me along with 34 others now have our own incredible 10 day story that will  turn into a lifetime of stories? 

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to the one who invites this non-social studies teacher to travel with the group to not only connect to but feel my Papa's story. 

• Shannon Evans

In the end, the trip was everything I remembered. 2005 to Ottawa with my first group, after working with Historica and discovering my connection to Thelus and CJ Clue, we decided we’d break out and do something not really done before at TOSH.  We decided to take our Remembrance Tour international, organizing in a short span of time a group of TOSH students to head to Ortona, Italy for the 65th Anniversary of the Battle of Ortona in 2008.  Onto 2010, 2012, 2013 In Flanders for Remembrance Day, 2015, 2017 Vimy 100, screw you Covid for ruining 2020 and finally back again in 2025 with these beauties.  I have had quite a few emails, phone calls to the school and messages about what the kids are doing and how great of an experience and what they are getting out of it.  

This has been a trip of a lifetime for them, some will be back, some will travel elsewhere, and some will not.  It is about the kids for sure, but many of you will never understand what I get out of it.  As I’ve grown older, I have learned to appreciate these opportunities, because nothing is a given, Covid proved that in spades. I am not sure how many more of these I have in me before I retire from teaching, but I do know that I have grown PERSONALLY AND PROFESSIONALLY once again.  

Each one of them has taught me something in their own special way.  I think I have developed 29 new special relationships. Was I hard on them, yes, on time, pay attention when in a new foreign city with new forms of transportation(no bike casualties, and only a couple of tram hiccups) and be respectful(that one was easy, we were the best group there!!). These adventures gave me inspiration to teach and to remember, they made me a better teacher and person, they made me enjoy the world(I actually didn’t travel much before my first trip to Europe) and they kept me young at heart,  as I still see things from their perspectives, eyes much younger than mine and do understand their excitement in new areas so I try not to be too hard on them when they are not listening, but I know now I can handle it.  Most people don’t want to spend 9 days with a group of 15-17 year olds, but I love it. I really do.....we laugh, we live and we learn, everything I miss about not being in the classroom daily, and what I am probably most afraid of when I soon decide to retire.  Isaac keeps asking about another trip before he’s done......we will see what the future brings!  In the end, thank you for sharing your most prized possessions with me for the last 2 years. It is not over for them, they have said the words of commitment and I believe they will follow through in a great way with our Remembrance Day ceremony next year.

Photo Dump to follow in the coming days....