Yesterday was a very long day for me. The previous day, I took three trains to Amsterdam…usually it takes three and a half, four hours, but this time it was a full SIX hours before I got to my B&B in Diemen ! c’mon! it was hot, in the 90s, and long and I was just glad to get it all over with.
I flew from Amsterdam to Chicago at 11 am, had to be there around 9:30. I hate planes, but hey to go anywhere you really want to these days,you must make sacrifices, as long as you offset it ! The only bad experience I had through the entire trip was my earplug expanded too much, and I couldn’t get it out with my hand! I had to resort to using one of the plastic knives, which the caused the man sitting next to me to laugh so much I thought he was really going crazy.
Needless to say, I didn’t use earplugs for my next two flights that day. Chicago to San Francisco was a three hour nap for me, and as I sat waiting for my flight in San Francisco, who should show up but…
EVNO! my sweet friend from university, who was getting a philosophical counselor certification in New York. It was great to see a friend in an airport for once,and to catch up. We watched one another’s loads (both of us had a backpack and a separate cloth bag stuffed with organic treats for the long haul) and caught up on our various sojourns.
But it ended up that we were four rows apart, so now and then I would catch a glimpse of typical Evno: the only entirely blanketed head for the entire flight. What we to do to stay asleep and calm, oh boy.
Well, I didn’t get a chance to go into Amsterdam at all.I predicted that, but anway I much prefer cities in autumn and winter. Heat,crowds, the energy in the summer really irritates and overwhelms me. When I was in Amsterdam in December, it even snowed lightly, making the air stiller and more magical as you awoke. I can recall the Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibit I saw at FOAM precisely, and walking up the Prisengracht, around Vondel Park and the Rijksmuseum.
I think the best way to see a city is walking anyway. On a bicycle, aside from dealing with what turns to take, you go by so fast that you don’t notice specific architectural details, cool places that locals frequent, and great photo opportunities.
And the perfect places to walk are Croatian towns and cities, mainly because you cannot ride bicycles in them! The limestone streets are often long and narrow, with no bike racks, and thousands of steep steps lead up houses, hills, shops, museums and libraries. My cousin in Hvar showed me the library there, and I spent a happy few minutes looking at all the books.
Now I missing Hrvatska (Croatia) intensely: the drama of everything, the landscape,my wonderful family, ancestral villages, the purest ocean, produce, how friendly,genuine and warm people are. Hrvatska runs in and through my veins and heart, and I cannot wait to fulfill my dream to live there someday.
Viva Hrvatska!
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