May 7 Thursday. My Dutch Heritage

We rented a car today to drive out to the countryside and visit some of the towns that have some ancestral meaning. My grandfather's name is Jasper Bunschoten, so we drove out to the town of Bunschoten/Spakenburg. The town is quite touristy on a picturesque old harbor that still has many of the old wooden fishing boats. It is charming. 

Me in front of the town sign.

The harbor with the fishing boats. 

A house in Bunschoten.

From there we drove to Huizen which is where Jasper (my Mother's father) was born and lived until he emigrated  to the United States when he was 16.  Again it is a beautiful little town and as we were walking around I spied a store canopy that read Bunschoten. We went in and I told the "clerk" my story. Well it turns out he is the owner of the store and his name is Pieter Bunschoten. His father was Pieter too but he had some other uncles or cousins with the name of Jasper! We promised to email when I get back to the States and it will be interesting to see if there is any connection. It was really fun. A few other pictures from the town of Huizen.

 P.S. Cousins, I have lots more pictures.

The Bunschoten Store

Steve took a picture of Peiter and me. He looks like a Bunschoten doesn't he?

The church in Huizen.

Some old pictures along the streets of Huizen. 

Our last stop of the day was in Naarden. This is a star fortress town and I will be interested to see if my Dad ever flew over it. It is said to have been a landmark during WWII for pilots flying bombing missions from England to Germany.

Our picture today. A picture from the web with an overhead view of the city.