What is it about traveling with our children? We want to show them the world, the possibilities in life, meet people and try new food. In June 2016, I traveled with our 10 year old to New York City. In other words: the Dutch girls travel to New York City.
Ever traveled with a pre-teen? Our daughter turned 10 years old in June 2016. The 2-digit era had arrived complete with a changing body and personality. She wants to be treated like an adult, of course!
Does that sound familiar?
I was thinking of something special to improve the mother-daughter bond.
Maybe a fun girls trip?
I still remember my 10th birthday and I was thinking to make this a special number 10 for her too. This trip had actually another purpose…..I have to admit!
The Dutch Embassy is wait….where…?
Yes, this trip had 2 purposes, I cannot lie about that! Later that summer we were traveling to the Netherlands….finally. It had been 4 years since the last time we’ve been there!
All of our travel documents were fine, except mine. My Dutch passport had expired.
No problem! I just check the Dutch Embassy in Chicago and just make an appointment. We’ll make a fun weekend out of it…THE DUTCH EMBASSY IN CHICAGO CLOSED???
Now what!? Where can we go now? The other options were New York City, or Miami, San Francisco or Washington D.C. And the last option was to get my passport renewed in the Netherlands. It was not even an option, because I couldn’t travel with my expired passport, right!
We have friends in New York, so that’ll be easy. Let’s do that! Up to New York City!!!
This was an important trip for me, but a fun one as well for us!
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Travel to New York
If you would travel from our house to New York City, it would be 1,045 miles or 1,682 kilometres. In driving hours it would be about 16 hours. These days I wouldn’t mind driving that far. In my Dutch days, that would have been INSANE!!! And what to do with a car in New York City?
We decided to take it easy (except for that early flight from Chicago to New York City). Luckily we live close to an Amtrak station, where a train leaves once a day to Chicago. It is a 4 hour trip.
Our hotel was near the airport, so we took the subway to the airport and caught the hotel shuttle to our hotel. The next day we were expected to be at the airport at 5 AM to get our flight to New York City. J was sooo excited. The train was a new thing and it had been a while since she was on a plane. She knew all about Chicago, but New York was a whole new city.
I visited this city twice before, but never with my kids so I was curious too. For example, I knew that New York City started as New Amsterdam, that several parts of New York are named after Dutch places and cities like Brooklyn (Breukelen) or Harlem (Haarlem). I even heard about a monument with Dutch text on it. But there must be more!
More things the Dutch brought to New York City.
- One of the streets in Manhattan is called St. Nicholas Avenue. St. Nicholas or Sinterklaas came from the Netherlands and America took it over to become Santa Claus.
- When the Half Moon ship (“de Halve Maen”) arrived in New York in 1609 with captain Henry Hudson (Hudson river), the Dutch settled quickly in the area where Manhattan is right now. The Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam surrendered to British forces in 1664, and New Amsterdam was renamed New York. They say that in cold winters the Dutch would ice skate on the (Hudson) river to go from New Amsterdam to their neighbors in the village of Breukelen.
- I love this one: ” Cookie!!! The very name comes from the Dutch word “koekje” meaning “little cake.” The Dutch initially created these sweet treats to test the temperature of their ovens. Dutch children would line up in the kitchen to get their hands on them before the cook would bake more complex breads and pastries. And how do you think these little delights made it to America? Through the bakeries of New Amsterdam. ”
- Not only cookies but also pretzels, pancakes, doughnuts and waffles are from the Dutch. They even discovered the Dutch brought waffle irons on their ships.
- The New Yorkers know the word “stoep”. They write it as “stoop”. The Dutch build higher steps in front of their houses in New Amsterdam because of the chance of flooding, which they knew all about in their home country.
- Some of the oldest houses were build by the Dutch. Here you can find them with some more history about them.
It started all to make sense. Soooo many Dutch names in New York. Over all those years the Americans often changed Dutch names to make them easier to pronounce, but after all, they’re still using them.
Questions from my daughter
” Is the name Manhattan also Dutch?” No, it is native American. Manna-hata and it means ” island of many hills”.
” The flag of New York City looks a little like the Dutch flag, but it has orange in it instead of red. Why?”
It has also 3 colors, but the orange is from the Prince’s flag, who was Prince of Orange in 1625 in the Netherlands. Prince Willem van Oranje.
“Is the money in the US Dutch too?” The word “Dollar” comes from the word “daalder” or “daler”. So actually, yes, it does!
Dutch Food in New York City
On our trip we kept it to our normal visits to Panera, only because we didn’t know of anything else. If we would have known, there were Dutch “frietjes” in a cardboard tote, just like the Dutch like to have them, or Poffertjes, we would’ve gone to these places, of course. By the way, here you can find a great “Poffertjes “recipe to make at home.
Please let me now how the food trucks in NYC are? Does anyone else know of other typical Dutch restaurants or food trucks in New York City??
I bet there are way more Dutch things to find.
If you know anything else, please comment below. Obviously, we’re planning to go to New York City with all of our family at some point, therefore, if you have more fun family activity ideas, please share!
Hello everyone,
Welcome to my Crafty Dutch Girl blog! Grab a cup of “koffie” and browse through fun blog posts about our Dutch family expat life in the USA, Dutch history, Dutch recipes, Dutch things to do in the USA and all kinds of crafts and activities. Don’t forget to connect with me for new ideas! “Groetjes en tot ziens”.