Rotary Friendship Exchange - the Netherlands
By: Julia & Tom Behrenbeck, La Crosse Downtown Rotary
At the end of May, the train station in Groningen, the Netherlands was the gathering point for a group of 12 Rotarians from District 6250 to meet their respective Dutch hosts of clubs in northern the Netherlands. It was the culmination of much planning by the RFE organizers and anticipation by the participants. As we came off the train we were welcomed and quickly paired with our hosts to travel for lunch at a cozy restaurant on the dike of the Wadden Sea, a Unesco world heritage site. The Wadden Sea is one of the last remaining large-scale, intertidal ecosystems where you find sand and mud flats in a relatively flat coastal wetland environment. What a beautiful northern border to the historically and culturally rich area where we would spend the coming week in fellowship with our new Dutch Rotary friends.
By: Julia & Tom Behrenbeck, La Crosse Downtown Rotary
At the end of May, the train station in Groningen, the Netherlands was the gathering point for a group of 12 Rotarians from District 6250 to meet their respective Dutch hosts of clubs in northern the Netherlands. It was the culmination of much planning by the RFE organizers and anticipation by the participants. As we came off the train we were welcomed and quickly paired with our hosts to travel for lunch at a cozy restaurant on the dike of the Wadden Sea, a Unesco world heritage site. The Wadden Sea is one of the last remaining large-scale, intertidal ecosystems where you find sand and mud flats in a relatively flat coastal wetland environment. What a beautiful northern border to the historically and culturally rich area where we would spend the coming week in fellowship with our new Dutch Rotary friends.
At the end of May, the train station in Groningen, the Netherlands was the gathering point for a group of 12 Rotarians from District 6250 to meet their respective Dutch hosts of clubs in northern the Netherlands. It was the culmination of much planning by the RFE organizers and anticipation by the participants. As we came off the train we were welcomed and quickly paired with our hosts to travel for lunch at a cozy restaurant on the dike of the Wadden Sea, a Unesco world heritage site. The Wadden Sea is one of the last remaining large-scale, intertidal ecosystems where you find sand and mud flats in a relatively flat coastal wetland environment. What a beautiful northern border to the historically and culturally rich area where we would spend the coming week in fellowship with our new Dutch Rotary friends.
That evening and next day we had time to get settled with our Dutch family and get acquainted with the various small towns where we were staying. They were scattered across the farms and meadows between Groningen and the Wadden Sea. On Monday we convened for a tour of the Breedenborg in Warffum, a former stronghold previously belonging to a nobleman farmer. We were fortunate to get a very personal historical perspective of this moated, beautifully restored block-shaped villa as our very own Edwin Bos had family connections to the Borg. In the afternoon, we visited a modern dairy farm. We closed the day with the Rotary club Appingedam-Delfzijl at the charming 17th century estate Ekenstein where we shared the stories of our rotary clubs.
On Tuesday we met in the more than 950-year-old city of Groningen. It was the regional power of northern Netherlands, a semi-independent city-state and member of the Hanseatic League. Today Groningen is the main urban center of this part of the country with over a half a million people and well known for its university, music and arts. We visited the architecturally modern museum with a permanent collection of regional treasures and art that reflect the vast history and culture and of the city and region. This was followed by a tour of the main building of the 400-year-old university. The University of Groningen belongs to the top 100 large comprehensive academic centers in the world.
The next day we took a day trip to the island of Schiermonnikoog. It turns out the island has its own Rotary Club whose company we enjoyed while walking, biking, visiting the beach and a guided tour of a local war cemetery. We continued in the fresh air on Thursday, with a guided tour of the Lauwersmeer National Park, home to over 100 species of birds, that breed in its water, forests and grasslands, and thousands of hibernating geese. This was followed by a tour of a modern potato seed farm bordered by a dike home to some grazing sheep.
The last day heralded a tour of the prominent Menkemaborg. The villa’s rooms were fully furnished with furniture, silverware, china, brassware and portrait paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries, and a unique cabinet organ, which is still used for chamber music concerts. The gardens were reconstructed after the surviving 18th century design with symmetrical patterns of clipped boxwood enclosing beds flowering and ornamental plants. We then moved to Warffum where a local couple provided a tour of their 13th century rectory home which they had lovingly renovated over the last years. We topped off the day with a walk at the local open-air museum of Het Hoogeland, followed by a bountiful farewell BBQ with the Rotary Club Uithuizen. The closing program vibrated with laughter and a slide show of fond memories to take home.
Over the week we got to know each other like family which enabled a rich exchange well beyond that of a tourist. We were able to spend intimate time in the daily lives of fellow Rotary friends soaking in their culture, challenges and joys. There were many late-night discussions with our host families to explore our similarities and open ourselves to differences in the spirit of learning and the ever-valuable Rotary promise.