Egmond Ann Zee and Alkmaar

Guest Author Laura Eigbrecht 

Sometimes the trips that seem to be the smallest, least spectacular turn out to be really adventurous and exciting. This was the case when Janine asked me to come to Egmond aan Zee (never heard of it!) in Noord-Holland. The quest: Find the house where her dad Bill used to live in 45 years ago. All we had was a picture in our head (as Janine forgot to bring a print) and a rough description of the location. As I love travelling to every tiny place in the Netherlands and Belgium (which sometimes annoys Janine), there was no way of not going. We took some trains and the smallest bus ever (capacity: approximately 8 people) where we met a man who used to live in Canada (British Columbia) for 38 years. Egmond aan Zee welcomed us with flower beds and a lovely beach. Already the first minutes felt like holiday, combined with sunny weather and the fact of being excited about our quest. However, who said it would be easy? After strolling along the coastal boulevard twice and not finding what we were looking for, we decided to take it easy and have lunch first. The fancy-looking place with the seaside view turned out to be just perfect. Then the adventure really started. We decided that it might be useful however to get access to the picture of the house. The search for a computer (as we are the last people on earth not equipped with tablet and smartphone) was harder than expected. In a creepy-looking but actually luxurious hotel, we were invited behind the reception to check for the picture. After leaving the hotel, a charming but playing-hard-to-get cat led us up a hill (a hill! In the Netherlands!) and in-between flowers, we enjoyed the loveliest view possible. Egmond aan Zee, even without having found the house, was already worth every kilometer of travelling.

 We might have stayed forever but 1) the cat left us and 2) we still had a quest. After walking along the coastal boulevard once more, we decided to show the pictures to locals. This was actually nice because with this, we talked to more nice and helpful locals than ever before. We also learnt something about their private life, and a very invested man finally had an idea. He gave us a very accurate description but we had already passed there and not seen a white house. So we passed again and again and just before giving up, we had a crazy idea. What if the colour…no! Yes? After five minutes of comparing the brick-coloured reality in front of us to the white picture, we realized that we had found it. A detective’s masterpiece: Somebody must have taken off the colour! Now, in bricks, the house looked totally different, but we were extremely proud we found it. It is on sale, so if you want to make a donation to the McGregors, go ahead. Nicest thing: The restaurant we had nice lunch at was just on the other side of the road

 

Cheesy conclusion: Everything happens for a reason! If Janine hadn’t forgotten the photo, we would not have found the cat which showed us the spot which… We actually rang the doorbell and were disappointed and a bit relieved when nobody was home. After having a hero’s ice cream amongst Germans, we took a bus to Alkmaar and had a quick look at that pretty town. We spotted a huge Teletubbie climbing a street lantern, we will never forget and it also reminded us of home, Tilburg. On the train trip home, we were happy and feeling awesome – we had one of the nicest trips here in the Netherlands. And one of the most special ones, because maybe you need a good reason to go to  Egmond aan Zee. We did.

Poppy's House!

Celebratory Icecream