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RICK'S BIG TRIP page 4 Hello, this is Senka appearing at
the top of the stairs. I met her over the internet about 6 months before my
trip. We e-mailed a lot, and when I came to Holland she invited me to spend a
few days in Ottersum. (By the way, on the way to
Ottersum, I first visited the Kroller-Muller Museum, to revisit the
extraordinary collection of Van Gogh’s paintings. To read more about that,
see my 1999 vacation web site, click on THIS LINK.) Ottersum is a tiny town way over
in the East of Holland, next to the German Border. So small in fact, that
most Dutch people never heard of it. The nearest big city is Nijmegen. Senka is originally from Bosnia. She
fled about 9 years ago when the Serbs were bombing the hell out of her
homeland and slaughtering her friends – lucky to have escaped with her life
and her two daughters. |
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The daughters are growing up nice as
can be, safe in the Netherlands. That’s Dalila on the left with her very nice
boyfriend (I’m sorry I forgot his name!) and Lana on the right. Of course
they all speak English very well, not to mention Dutch and Bosnian. Lana
particularly wants to come to the USA, I think she wants to see New York for
some reason. It must all seem pretty exciting from over there. |
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In the back garden, there was a
very little tree, chosen by this bird as the perfect place for a nest. |
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With Sen, I did a lot of travelling
around the area. Saw the town museum an old church in Nijmegen (below), and
just bicycled around. On one trip, around sunset, we came upon the sleeping
place for a bunch of sheep. You see them looking up like, “what are you doing
interrupting our slumber party?” |
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Here’s a picture from that old
church we saw in Nijmegen, early 17th century. These organs are
amazing. When we were there, some guy was sitting back there noodling a
cacophonic improvisation the keyboard. I’d’ve rather heard Bach (or done some
noodling myself), but the sound of those pipes – magnifique! |
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