Wijchen of the past...........weeks

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.

Proud to show my family. We all had dinner together

From the monastery is only this church left. The kindergarten was next to the monastery and we were taught by the nuns.

The marketplace looks wonderful with new trees and a chess game! There is still a market on Thursday mornings. I lived around the corner.

In the cafe on the right we had many wedding parties, disco afternoons etc

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.