Returned from the Camino trip last Tuesday. While my walking was very strong, I was disappointed with the trip overall. The first two days of walking were through an industrial area so there was a lot of walking very near busy highways. The first day included 3 KM through an industrial park, with warehouses on either side as far as the eye could see. The second day was not as dreary but much the same. The following three days were just beautiful and I enjoyed the terrain very much. I was generally tired at the end of the day, but found the walking very satisfying.

Unfortunately, the first day I got a taste of the issue that would make the trip much less enjoyable than the one we did last year.One big factor was the addition of three more people, last year we were 11 and this year 14. But more to my dismay was the change in the group dynamic.

The woman who organized the trip this year and last traveled both times with her husband, the only man last year and just one of two this year. This year he didn't have a cell phone and he tends always to walk far out in front. I guess I didn't notice it last year because she would call him periodically and they made their plans as they walked along. Since he was without a phone, he just kept walking. The man doesn't "like" to eat and seems to want to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible and definitely first. She wouldn't stop if he was ahead without letting him know, impossible under the circumstances. So on day one, despite passing several nice places for lunch once we got into the town, we persevered until one of our group caught up with him and forced a stop. We all descended on a too small cafe, pulled many tables together, made a lot of noise and fuss and asked for a menu. It was siesta in a small town in Spain, so while there was one staff member working, there was no English and not much food. It was insane. One of our group fancied herself a Spanish speaker and so while there were three others, including me, who could get along in Spanish, she insisted that all orders go through her. This made some sense because the server was completely overwhelmed, but her Spanish was not that great and there was much toing and froing while all of us put in our orders. I was embarrassed to be with such a loud group. We really made a spectacle. This was my first inkling that this trip was going to be very different from the last.

Last year, we walked in fluid dyads and tryads and stopped along the way as we wanted. This year, there was much herding up after the first day. Apparently there'd been words between the couple causing him to stop quite a lot and pressure everyone to assemble periodically, so it was very hard to keep going along once he'd decided that an assembly was in order. I didn't want to stop that much, so after day two I just ignored that, but getting out in front caused him to break his neck to catch up and pass. There was never time to just walk along at my own pace. I really began to resent it. My friend Dierdre began to walk with me and we walked ahead and mostly alone for days 3-5. It wasn't until the end of day 5 that I discovered that she really didn't want to do that. She didn't want me to walk alone. Despite my many protests to her over the three days that I didn't mind being alone and that I'd stop along the way when I was tired and surely connect with one or more of the group that way. This really disappointed me, and made me feel that I was keeping her from fully enjoying her trip, so I decided to pass on walking the last day. I just couldn't in good conscience cause her to go against her more social nature by continuing my quest for some solitude and quiet and I knew that I also couldn't supress my frustration with the continual herding up. So, while my walking was very strong; much stronger than last year, I opted to take the train to our final destination on the last day. I didn't care so much about not "finishing," that seldom bothers me, but the knowledge that I would not be happy doing another Camino with this group was a sore realization. The others really enjoyed walking as a big group. Several have said how that aspect of this trip was better for them, so I know that I'm the odd woman on that score. The story of my life!

I'm glad that I stopped though, it made the last day much more fun and, although I felt a little alienated from the group, we had a good final reunion in Santiago, a nice dinner and good return trip home. Had I walked that last day, I'm sure my frustration would have shown and that would have caused tension during our farewells. This way, I had a chance to relax and calm myself and explore the great city of Santiago at leisure. It's a really beautiful place. I would highly recommend a trip there even without the walking.

So, back to Dublin. Our shipment has gone, our return arrangements are made and we have just 8 more weeks to go. Our friends, Linda and Bob, will come on Wednesday, and we are looking forward to showing them the best of Dublin during the week they are here bracketing a week we will spend together in a house in Ballyvaughn, County Clare in the West of Ireland. We've also planned our last trip to Donegal for October 6-8 when I will say farewell to my family there. We are already planning our return for another extended stay in the coming years. As long as I can travel, I'm hoping to have a month or so a year here.

It's been a long haitus, but I'm back to the blog. I left off midsummer just after the Willie Clancy Festival of set dancing and our 37th anniversary on July 2. As I expected we have stayed pretty close to home in Dublin most of the time since then, although we took a quick trip to Wales this week from Tuesday to Thursday.

I've spent a lot of time in preparation for walking The Camino, with two long walks of about 16 km each with the group of people that will make the trip this year. Both were in the area north of Dublin called Howth. Dublin is situated in about the center of Dublin Bay sheltered on both sides by two headlands, Bray to the sourth and Howth to the north. There are good, scenic walks on both heads, although the Howth head is higher and the walking route is longer. I've done both walks and while I like the Bray walk, it's mostly coastline, just 8 km and fairly flat so there's not a lot of challenge. Howth is quite different, with a lot of climbing, higher elevation and twice the distance to get around the promontory. I organized the first walk there on July 27th and the group was so pleased with it that we decided to do the same walk in the other direction on August 17th. The second was equally successful, although we did have a little rain and the summit was quite blustery. The group is a very nice one and we've gotten to know one another better during these delightful rambles. I'm looking forward to the trip, which starts in two weeks, on September 2. Seven days of walking and 125 km on the Portuguese Way, which approaches Santiago de Compostella from the south.  Last year we did the same distance approaching from the west. I'm still a little concerned about the two days we have to walk over 25 km, particularly the first day, which also looks like there's a pretty significant elevation from the start to the finish. At least this year I'm sure of my shoes and don't expect a repeat of blistering under my toenails (which I didn't even know could happen) and ultimately losing one of the nails months later in while Aruba in February.

Alan won't make that trip. Aside from his lack of interest in walking for days on end, he's had an MRI on his knee and there's a complex tear of the medial meniscus. That's doc talk for you need knee surgery. He's going to wait on that until we get back to the USA and our health insurance.

We've also made quite a lot of arrangements for our move. The moving company will come next Monday or Tuesday to take 150 kilos of our stuff. Except for what we take on the plane that is all we will take from Ireland. It was hard deciding what to take and what to leave behind and these last two months are a little sparse. I save odd shaped jars and bottles but Alan has been vigilant and none of them made the cut. I have been able to take a few of the great bowls I bought in charity shops here. The shipment will go by boat and they tell us it will be 60-90 days in getting there. I hope it's the shorter, but it all depends on how long it takes to fill the container in which our small shipment will be included. I've also bought a few things that have been shipped direct from the stores. We know, for example, that our new everyday silverware from Newbridge has already arrived and a set of porcelain dishware is also on the way. I want to be ready to set up housekeeping -- and welcome guests -- as quickly as possible once we arrive in Bloomington. I suspect we won't have as many out-of-town guests in Bloomington as we've had in Dublin, but hope springs eternal. That sure has been one of the many highlights of our stay here.

We've already found a place to live temporarily while we look for a house to buy. It's good to have friends! Once I put the word out that we had a return date, a friend at Indiana University sent an email to her colleagues and we found a small house within hours. There is even some basic furniture so we won't have to sit on hastily bought lawn furniture and a matress on the floor while we await the rest of our stuff from storage in Virginia. The best thing about this place is that the owner is very flexible about timing and we don't have to sign a lease, so we have some time to find the right place. Another friend in Bloomington has put us in touch with a great realtor who has already sent us several listings in the neighborhood in which we are hoping to buy. I have to say, we are both looking forward to reuniting with our stuff, I'm particularly anxious to get my piano back. Still, I'd rather we stayed in Dublin and would happily sacrifice the piano if that were a possibility. It's not and I've adjusted to it.

We had a nice trip to Wales earlier this week after a harrowing first few hours. We took the ferry from Dublin to Holyhead with our bikes in tow. It never ceases to amaze me how optimistic I am about biking. We initially decided that we could get off in Holyhead and bike the 55 km to Caernarfon [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caernarfon] where Alan booked a hotel. Ha, ha. We got about 5 miles on a "dual carriageway," which means highway where you can (legally) ride your bike if you are completely crazy. Unfortunately, one aspect of these roads is that there aren't many exits. We got off at the first opportunity and took the train to Bangor, just 9 km away from our destination. When we got off the train in Bangor we missed the tiny, tiny sign for the bikeway and wound up on another dual carriageway. We didn't realize it until it was too late and we couldn't get off, so when the 18 inch paved siding ended abruptly walking on the grass was the only option for me. Alan continued riding and would wait ahead periodically. He is able to ride on a white line, a talent I don't have at all. It was quite terrifying seeing him up ahead with no margin for error. But, we made it safely, although completly drained and exhausted. The following day was a beautiful, sunny one and we had a lot of fun seeing the sights of Caenarfon, including one of the oldest castles in Europe. It was quite interesting learing a little about the history of Wales and the fierce independence of the people. Fortunately our return ride to Bangor was on the bikeway, a beautiful coastline ride, I was so sorry to have missed it coming out.

Today we are going to see a play by Enda Walsh, one of Ireland's leading contemporary playwrites. It's been characterized is "Waiting for Godot" where Godot arrives. We've seen that play, penned by another of Ireland's great playwrites, Samuel Beckett. I'm hoping this one is better because I just couldn't get it. I was convinced to buy the tickets because it has Stephen Rea and Cilian Murphy [http://ballyturk.com/gallery/] two actors I like very much. (I've provided the link because most of you will know them once you see a picture.) The third guy, who I'm guessing is the arriving Godot is unknown to me yet. I'm hoping I've either matured or the play is more accessible than "Godot," otherwise an afternoon snooze in in my future.

Finally, we are eagerly awaiting our final visitors. Linda and Bob, longtime friends from Washington are coming on September 17. After a few days in Dublin, we have taken a house is Ballyvaughn, County Clare for a week. This is an area in the west of Ireland near The Burren. We spent a nice week with them last year in Clifden in Galway and are looking forward to seeing them again.

I'll likely post more regularly now, until the end of our stay.

The day after we returned from Holland was our 37th wedding anniversary. Like the 36th, we didn't remember it till mid-afternoon. I called Alan from the bus on my way to dance class and he bought a cake and champagne to toast it when I returned. Hopefully we will remember next year in time to plan something.

On Monday, the 7th, I left with my friend Mary for Willie Clancy Week in Miltown Malbay, County Clare, for a week of set dance workshops. I did that festival alone last year so it was good to have the company. We also stayed in the workshop hotel so it was much easier in that way as well. Last year I had a room in a house 4 miles away, so it was impossible to do anything after dark, when all the fun starts! Over the 5 days we were there, we danced 6 hours a day and walked at least 6K each day to the little town where there were lectures and other activities after the morning workshop. Amazingly, I gained 2 kilos.  There's no justice.  I'm going to try and come back next July for the festival again.

I've completely accepted that we have to leave here in November. We've booked our return voyage for November 7 and we are looking forward to spending Thanksgiving in Atlanta with my much missed friend Dorothy and her great family.

The next adventure is another walk on the Camino de Santiago in early September. This time we will start in Portugal and walk a week on the northern coast and into Spain. All of the Camino walks end in Santiago de Compostela in Spain. This year there will be 14 of us going, Alan will stay behind again. His knee is still not good, I'm worried that he will need surgery as soon as we return to the USA. He's determined to tough it out till then, hopefully there won't be big consequences for waiting.

Following the Camino week we have friends coming from the States for another week in the West of Ireland. They will stay a total of two weeks with a stay with us in Dublin bracketing the week in the West.

I'm happy to spend the remaining days of July and all of August here in Dublin, although there's no dance as both the contemporary dance class and the set dance classes are on summer haitus, so there likely won't be much by way of posting for the next 6 weeks.

Well, we didn't get to Alan's home place of Kloosterburen in North Holland after all. We got to the archives in Groningen (like the county seat of North Holland) by train on Tuesday morning from Amsterdam. It took about two hours. We got info from the very well organized archive, housed in a great library and facility. Then we walked around the small City of Groningen. Going further to Kloosterburen (KB) would have required an hour or so bus ride and we had GPS pictures to suggest that KB is really just a wide spot in the road. I've done that in villages in Ireland and it's not good, sometimes it's 4-5 houses and a pub that's generally closed.

I would have gone on and maybe if I pressed it, we could have taken a taxi there and back, but I figured it was Alan's history. Also, if truth be known, I was pretty annoyed that he was able to just scratch the surface and get a lineage to the 1600's. I've always thought of myself as the only one in this relationship who had a long knowledge of family history. Ah, it's always this way. When we went on our honeymoon bike trip so long ago, he lost 11 pounds and I gained 5! It's so annoying.
He's not really that charmed though, because his knee continues to bother him. I feel bad about that, he's really laid up.

We are really tying up our Amsterdam experience. The landlord will come on Sunday to 'check us out.' By this time I realize that there is no way on earth that the landlord could have been 'surprised' by the impending renovation, even if the government dictated the timing. They knew it would be 'June,' just not what date in June, but they weren't really surprised at all. Still, she did offer to let us go, it is an amazing location and place, it was not too expensive and we continued to have fun, so...

We got another visit to the Rijks Museum in today. I was able to see Vermeer's letter and milkmaid up close with the hoards. Of course we got there and Alan didn't hazard the crowds around the two paintings hung together in a great juxtaposition. People really hogged close up, so I can't say any more then I got really, really close to them. It was fun though. We now finished 1600 to 1650, the height of the Dutch period. We might get to that museum one more time. If so, I think I'll skip far ahead, so that my coverage of the museum in the four visits will be more balanced. I only have two days to meet that goal.

This might be my final post from Amsterdam. Right now, the month here has felt like a week, at most. I just can't believe how quickly the time has gone by. I'm dreading my return to Dublin where I feel our last three months, we fly by as quickly. Oh, I am sad...

A minor disaster struck when we returned from The Hague and our so, so successful ancestor search last Tuesday! When we arrived, the building was being covered in scaffolding. It seemed like a surprise to everyone, including the retail businesses on the ground floor. Scaffolding is bad enough but they also cover it in mesh, so you are in a cocoon when you pass the threshold. Oh, it was an alarming development.

In the end there's nothing to be done. We can rail at the stars, threaten to sue, leave in a huff (to nowhere) or accept our fate. We chose the last. We had two glorious weeks of unfettered view that is not to be had elsewhere in Holland. The silver lining is that we are on the top floor (4th//5th floor) and the mesh only comes to the middle of the beautiful windows looking out over the Western Market and church. The workmen are very polite, the apartment lends itself to being partitioned off, as do so many apartments we've encountered in Europe. Also they are working on the lower floors just now. They will be painting. The apartment owner seems as genuinely surprised as everyone else that the job started this week. She offered to refund the unused portion, we didn't accept because we only have a week to go and so far it hasn't been too bad.  Of course, after the workers put up the scaffolding, "at the weekend" kicked in. So it's been quiet. We'll see how it goes this week. To our great sorrow, the Amsterdam is coming to an end in ONE WEEK.

It's been fun being in yet another culture. For example, both Alan and I have remarked on the difference in the walking style of the Dutch compared to the Irish. The Dutch don't stop in the middle of the sidewalk to chat or adjust the pram or light up. The middle of the sidewalk (path) is for keeping moving, preferably fast. This we like. But for another, unlike the Irish, they fill up any available space, so if you hesitate for one second in claiming your little spot on the corner or in the square, too bad for you! And they don't smile or say: "Ah, go on love." This we don't like.

We've had to use all our reasoning power when we first got to Ireland to convince ourselves that the locals weren't intentionally trying to annoy us when they would stop, for no apparent reason, right in front of us, usually at a pinch point. There are so many of these small cultural nuances that seem to make the difference between day to day living and observing a culture as a visitor from elsewhere. These things are so small they don't glare out at you. But, if you spend even the smallest amount of time, you discover on your own. Some you like, some you get used to and some you tolerate. Seeing these things is what I like most about this adventure.

The first few days in Amsterdam we were pretty terrified of getting run down by any type of conveyance. Trollies, trucks, cars, tightly clustered pedestrians on tours, horses and bikes, bikes, bikes seem to come at you from every angle. It's all amazingly orderly once you get the hang of it, but you must conform. This is so against my nature that I've taken to acting quite passive in the streets and letting Alan lead me around. I find if I can relax as much as possible, he can pull me along quite easily. I'm like his zombie. Problems arise when he lets go, or a shiny thing catches my eye.

We haven't gotten back to the Rijks Museum. On our way there last Wednesday, we were distracted by the Amsterdam City Museum on the way and went there instead. We've been to that museum several times in past visits, and they have a new interactive Amsterdam City history exhibition that was quite good. We both enjoyed it.

On Friday, we rented bikes and rode to Haarlem. It was a nice ride, the bikes you can rent are good, but it wasn't very picturesque, kinda boring really. The real disappointment was that Haarlem isn't that nice a place either. Not bad but like biking from The Mall in DC to Hyattsville. Once you get there you wonder why you came.

On Saturday we took the ferry across The Eye to Norrd. This is a newer neighborhood of Amsterdam across the bay. The more I'm here, the more I'm impressed with the first bike guide's reminder that the 'forrest' we were riding through was, like everything in Amsterdam, "built environment". Nothing naturally occured where you are standing that wasn't first built by the Dutch. It's really astounding.

On Sunday we went to Delft. The train ride was fun as was walking around the old city early Sunday morning (before 11 a.m., things start late, much later than I thought). Otherwise I thought the city was pretty touristy, like Williamsburg, only the set is real too. Bruges in Belgium was a much, much better example of the period. Still, it was nice. I was disappointed that the Delft Factory, and many of the antique shops, were closed on Sunday.

Today we caught up on housekeeping, both corporeal and organizational. I see I have a preference for Mondays for that...Hmmmm.

During the time it has taken me to write this, I've advanced from acceptance to grim acceptance of the building maintenance. When I began to write this post, the workers had been on site for at least two hours. Alan, ever the early riser, was up at 7, so we can count on the punctual 8 a.m. start time as he's seen it twice now. It was quiet and except if I passed the room where I could see the scaffold veil, I didn't care. Alan spent the morning preparing for our trip to his home place tomorrow. When we broke for lunch, I got my first whiff of paint, and it reminded me of what's to come. Now they are using a grinder on the facade, not the trim. This causes the entire building to vibrate. But, they WILL stop at 4.

I'm now motivated to ensure that we use our last week here to good use. Tomorrow we go to Groningen and Kloosterburen, Alan's ancestor's last home in Holland. We are about to go to the town that nurtured the guy that brought the Balkema name to America. This is akin to my going to Moate, the town in Ireland from which my father emigrated to bring our branch of the Dignam family to America. What a moment! Hopefully it will be fun and we don't find it's Holland's Amityville.  

We went to a concert on Saturday evening in the Concertgebouw: Hayden's Symphony #98, two Strauss songs and Mahler's 4th Symphony. The concert hall is just beautiful. Very similar to others we've seen in Europe. Really ornate and fitting for such a wealthy city. The music was good, I much prefer Hayden to Mahler and was sorry the bill wasn't reversed, with the Mahler the shorter selection. Still, it was good to get out to hear music. Earlier in the day we did another part of the Rijks Museum, I'm up to 1800. I was resolved to remember one thing well and I focused on the Roentgen Writing Desk. This is a truly amazing piece of furniture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC5Hqk7wl7U


On Sunday, we went on a bike tour to "the countryside". It was a very well led group. The young man leading the group, Stuart, reminded me of the leader of a Bikecentennial adventure way back in the olden days of 1976. It was fun to follow someone so fit, who really knew how to keep the group engaged, interested, and moving! On a bike, that's pretty critical. It was a fun adventure. We were exhausted when we got back in the evening.

We took it easy on Monday, catching up with laundry and the like. And today we took our first trip outside Amsterdam. We went to The Hague to start Alan's ancestor search.

The trip to The Hague was quite successful in finding information about Alan's family. In fact, finding all he needed to really get into the community we will visit where the Balkema name and Alan's ancestor, Jakub, originate has been made available. It was quick and easy. He was able to get in a half hour, what would have taken months otherwise. His brother had earlier done some digging, but Alan's research was the first among official documents. He started with Jakub's self report to the marriage license place in Lafayette, Indiana (home of Purdue), that he arrived in New York from Amsterdam in 1851. Turns out it was 1850, but one could see how he would get that wrong since he didn't have any paperwork. From that, Alan got the town and a list of the parents and siblings of his ancestor. It's a wealth of information. He's pretty engaged in it I think.

We are planning to do another area of the Rijks Museum tomorrow. Alan will plan the next trip to his ancestral region. We also made a commitment to return to The Hague because a museum that's been highly recommended, the Mauritzhuis is closed for the next 11 days. There's a countdown flag in front of the museum and it looks like it's been closed for a long time. Still, it also looks like the perfect museum, small, interesting rooms and an amazing collection. We will likely combine that with a trip to Delft.The time is going so quickly, I'm starting to wonder if we will even fit all this in.

Alan is doing much better, so much so that he cancelled the acupuncture treatment that was scheduled for yesterday morning.  We went to the Rembrandthuis Museum instead, had a nice lunch out and got back after a full day for yet another great home cooked meal. Since we had a visit from our friends Mark and Judy and Alan brought up that it had devolved that he does "all" of the cooking, we have had made a good compromise in that we alternate cooking responsibilities. This is one great thing about a long and successful marriage, we're still learning how to live with one another. That divergence was prompted by my thoughts about the great food we've had here. Both that which we've prepared for ourselves in this great apartment, and meals outside. We continue to benchmark against the $300 fiasco in the restaurant with no stove in Stockholm. I don't think we've spent that in the supermarket yet.

Anyway, back to Alan. His knee was much better the morning after the last treatment and he was willing to walk for a mile or so. We have been keeping a routine of going to a small museum in the morning (not too early) then having lunch and doing a good walk in a new area of Amsterdam. Alan is a very good pathfinder and now with his bum knee, he's not so inclined to just start walking just by looking at the sun. So that makes it better from my perspective. He's got really good wayfinding abilities, but I'm always nervous that, particularly in these old cities, the path turns and becomes blocked by centuries old terraced houses. There are definitely secret pathways, but even when you go searching for them, as we did yesterday, you can't figure out how to get in unless someone tells you.

The windows to the back of the apartment where we are staying view a very quiet and private courtyard. In contrast, the building front faces Vijelstraat a busy trolly stop (Westerkirk). We also face the church, also Westerkirk, the first one in Amsterdam built for protestants during the reformation. The buildings on the street are the western wall protecting this little courtyard within from the busy world out front. There are lots of trees and birds sing throughout the day. Our walk adventure yesterday was to try and figure out how to get in. There has to be a way because there are at least a dozen roofs to be seen from our fourth floor (5th floor) aerie. The courtyard is not big, but like so many Dutch things, it is very well laid out. We had a little luck in one of the small hotels that is within the warren of roofs we see from our window. They had a cafe in their tiny part of the courtyard and we (well Alan) could get bearings. I'm still a little confused, but I do see the church (the one behind, not Westerkirk) so I know there's a way. Alan wants our walking exploration today to be a reattempt to get inside.

I thought we would be doing more adventuring around Holland, but we've been here 12 days today and have not ventured too far afield. I must say, Alan is being a good sport about his knee. Of course early in his convalescence he was free to play computer games all afternoon without me nagging him, so he got his fix. Plus it was only a few days of complete lay-up.  During those two days I went to the Rijks Museum and bought us Museumpass cards that are good for a full year. They were expensive, 54.90/each, but we are resolved to go to a museum a day and I think they have really already paid for themselves. We will give them to friends when we return to Ireland because they will continue to be good for months afterward.

That first day, I stayed in the Rijks and did the first floor rooms, from 1100 to the 16th century. I went through it pretty quickly because it's heavily religious in subject and I don't find that particularly interesting. My plan is to do the Rijks in stages, and this pass really facilitates that plan. Alan says he will go back for the next section (1700-1800). This should be the most interesting in the whole collection, I think, and I want to be fresh for it. If we can, we will push on to 1900 the next time. I just don't see how I will be able to get the whole way through that museum alone.

We've been to three smaller museums included in the Museumpass on our daily forays since Alan has been feeling up to walking. Mostly my favorites, house museums. I'm especially excited to see a lot of them because of our impending move. It's so interesting to see people's old stuff!

The first one was the van Loon house. As we were walking through I was just overwhelmed with the wealth everywhere on display. It seemed so pretentious and over the top. Still, I could see how one could get used to living that way, if you didn't think at all. All the way through the house I had a feeling of unease and when we got to the basement kitchen, I saw the "family crest" predominently
displayed on every piece of china: two black men in chains facing one another. All this wealth was a result of the slave trade. It was creepy. We capped that morning off with a good walk around the Rembrantplein area. 

The next day we did the Willet-Holthuysen House, a really nice house with interesting furnishings, history and owners. The last owner, Louisa H. gave the house to the city of Amsterdam in 1894 to be run as a museum and it has ever since. The must have been a good endowment with that house. She was the owner through her father, she married Abraham W. late. They seemed to have an interesting relationship and I think in these times, both sounded like they would have been happier living openly but I think they did OK. He was known then as a bon vivant and they both were called collectors. I don't think either did much, but they lived well.

Yesterday we went to the Rembrandthuis. It was interesting, but as I reflect on what I saw, I realize that I can't call to mind a single painting. In fact, I think most of the collection on display in the house was not authentic. I was much interested in the house, and saw that it was the type of lifestyle Alan and I might live today. It was very like our house on Lake Drive in Milwaukee in ambiance. Poor Rembrandt met a sad end though, still he wasn't tortured for years like Van Gogh, but it sounds like no picnic.