When you finally go back to your old home, you find it wasn't the old home you missed but your childhood. Sam Ewing
A second try as I deleted my post yesterday by accident. My trip to Holland went by in a flash and already seems ages ago but it’s only a week. It was so great to catch up with everybody. Instead of drinking coffee we went places so my son would be able to get a glimpse of Holland and Europe. All went well and I didn’t notice a lot of changes. There were a lot of flowers and trees in the center of my birthplace, which looked wonderful. Highways, increased to eight lanes. Food banks are a new phenomenon in Holland because of the recession but most people are still doing OK. I noticed I changed too. I felt sometimes more like an observer than being part of it all as it was not me anymore. I was able to adjust to my old self though but it was not completely natural. I am the one who left though so it was up to me to adjust. I was probably also looking for the closeness and the carefree time of the past. I was looking for my childhood.
I cherished every minute of my stay and feel very fortunate that I had such a wonderful time.
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Proud to show my family. We all had dinner together
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From the monastery is only this church left. The kindergarten was next to the monastery and we were taught by the nuns.
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The marketplace looks wonderful with new trees and a chess game! There is still a market on Thursday mornings. I lived around the corner.
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In the cafe on the right we had many wedding parties, disco afternoons etc
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The house above is a restaurant called after Fien, a schoolteacher who was adopted by a rich Swiss lady. Later in life Fien became a bit eccentric and had lots of animals roaming around. She was a great painter and had exhibitions behind the green doors you see.
and of course the castle where I married and where we played in the gardens as children.