A summer castle, complete with a natural moat.
Family is dandy but friends are like candy. You may quote me. One of the reasons…primary reasons…we made this a four-month odyssey, spending the intervening months in Europe between the two family weddings, was to visit friends well remembered and sorely missed. And while many had the audacity to be doing other things elsewhere during the summer, we managed to catch up with most of those who mean the most to us.
In particular, we saw D. and L. in the Netherlands, whose friendship has made so many shared events over the past two decades memorable. Christmas and New Years, in particular, have never been the same. Some of our best voyages of discovery around Europe have been in their company.
They are animal-lovers (three dogs and six cats at last count who are also our good friends), and rather brilliant at what they do. They provide essentially the only reason we visit the Dutch, for, despite sincere attempts on our part, we continue to find little to love about their flat country. There are, of course, features that are appealing about the Netherlands, but unless you ride a bicycle or own a small caravan, on the whole you’re better off going elsewhere for a holiday. I’m ignoring those who would find the red-light district or cannabis cafes in Amsterdam appealing.
D. and L. live in the central east of the country, east of Utrecht, and are thus well above sea level, and in a more heavily-forested part of the country. It’s rural (or as much rural as is found) and pastoral, and very, very green. If we do anything much during our visit to them and their various dogs and cats, it’s to walk along the many paths and byways provided, or visit some of the manors and their grounds that can be found in the region, many dating from the 17th century or earlier. One is pictured above. Here’s another:
If you want to sense how much time has passed under your feet, reminisce with friends of the things you’ve done and seen in their company. That said, accumulating those experiences may be one of the best reasons for getting old. As it becomes apparent that opportunities will be fewer to see our old friends (in both senses of the term) in coming years, our time with them this past summer becomes more valuable. Perhaps it is better to stop seeing friends at some point and let memories take over the job of keeping us all young forever.
