Holland in a day

Tanya H., my best friend for much of my early youth, came for a mini tour of the Dutch countryside and culture - and to see me of course - on her way from S. Korea through Europe toward home near Chicago. As the time for her visit began drawing near, I thought, "you know, I really don't know this person! I wonder if we're even going to have anything to talk about."

But I needn't have worried about that. Instead, what I should have prepared for was the intensity of the miracle, in amazement at how the Universe works. Separated for over 20 years but still two sides of the same coin. It took me a week to get my energy level back to normal.

We didn't talk about nothing, of course. Our conversation was exhausting in it's profundity. A lot can happen after the age of 14 to two such spirits, committed to our truth and to being as awake as possible on our journey Home. And what we didn't remember about each other as children, we made up for in 24 hours.

Our "catching-up session" reminded me of the great roadtrip talk I had with Shiela on our way to the OBX last October - non-stop! How CAN two women have so much to say without pause? How delightful.

Well, enough of that. On to the tour!

A beautiful castle - that should look familiar to some of you - on our journey of Dutch discovery. Thanks go to Nico for the picture taking and again for the wonderful tour guiding. (I just wish he'd gotten more close-ups. My mom loves close-ups.) The building I call the Snake House due to the wrought iron stair balustrades (which you might remember from an entry last fall). I don't know what it's really called but what's in a name? I love the angle of this photo. Tanya reminded me of myself when I was still an avid tourist. Click, click, click!Walking along the cobbled streets of ... the quaint tourist village we ended up in (I'll have to get the name to you later). Nico's dad had made the suggestion and it was a good one. This will definitely be on the list of places to take visitors who want to get a taste of Holland in one day (or less). A pancake house, draw bridge, fantastic village museum, fortifying wall with canal, quaint shops and three huge windmills!

A funny shot of Tanya with cannon and one of those unusual windmills. The latter was once employed to open flood gates, the water used to keep out "enemies". For those that know me well, this photo illustrates a common trait - goofy photo posing. A small draw bridge with two old friends. It was a cloudy, cold day day and no way to get past that fact with Tanya whom I think would have been shivering even if it was 60 degrees. But she didn't complain... much.

This send-off photo was taken at the train station in Eindhoven as Tanya headed off to Paris, a four hour trip south.

This was her first visit to Europe: Holland the appetizer, Paris a petite salad nicoise, the UK and Ireland her main course with dessert. From there, she'd head on to Northern Illinois to reconnect with family and with her next steps in life, as she leaves behind teaching ESL in Korea for some new adventure.

Best of luck, Tanya, and come back anytime. There's so much more to see and so much we didn't get to eat. Cheers!