By now, I'm sure you all have concluded that I am the worst blogger ever. I just haven't felt inspired or committed to blogging on a regular basis; and combined with the variable access to internet, means I have a lot of catching up to do. So, here's a brief update of my travels from New York to Holland. I'm sure I will add more bits as I go along...well, we can only hope.
I tried to add a bit of video or pics* from our visit to the World Trade Center on 9.9.11, but it's taking too long to upload. Sue and I were both leaving New York in the evening of 9.10.11, on the day before the reopening of the fountain and center to the public. When we went, we were only able to go in the World Trade Financial Center and look through the window to the fountain. It was a very anti-climactic visit. We went mainly to quietly pay our sincere respects, and were glad not to be there when all the drama would be re-enacted. Afterwards, we went to Central Park and heard the Royal Scottish NY Choir sing some beautiful and patriotic songs. Then we took a fantastic bicycle ride through Central Park. We only had about 30 minutes, and we had to get back for our evening "off Broadway". We went to see "Rent", which was spectacular! I loved it, even if it was a bit dated and brought up all kinds of feelings for old friends who "left the building". I was glad we went to see an upbeat play, Cole Porter's "Anything Goes" which had some great old songs...it was very silly, but also very well done and just so old theater. I'm not a very discerning audience, because I've been on Maui so long and have basically been "cultureless" for years...I found myself so delighted to see live theater, that I wasn't very critical. And isn't that the point, that art-music-theater lifts one up regardless of how jaded we've become?
*I need to figure out how to upload pics/video to blog faster?....
I had an interesting trip through Iceland to Amsterdam. I then spent a few days in Amsterdam on a canal cruise, searching out one of the houses I used to live in, and the hostel I worked at was still open. I stayed at The Brouwer Hotel on the Singelstraat, which I had stayed in in the 1970's and is still owned by the same family; then I was lucky enough to stay at the owner's apartment, also on the Singel. I had a wonderful time in Amsterdam, despite the pervasive reek of the "coffeeshops". It didn't seem as if it had changed much from when I was there, but several Dutch people I talked with said that most people have moved out of the city to places like Delft because it is not at all the same as it used to be.
Since then I have been staying in Delft with my friend Mich, who used to live on Maui, and is now working in Holland. I love Delft!...it is the perfect Dutch city to visit, and I could stay here anytime. I have to run right now to get some coffee and other stuff, and the shops here close early...so "dah" for now, and will sincerely try and catch up more stuff that's happened on the train to Paris...
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