October 2000 › Cathleen and John Visit › September Stragglers › Italy - Pisa and San Gimignano Other Months › Index page

September Stragglers Sunday, October 01, 2000; posted by Paris In September, Lisa and I took our first cross-country trip in the French Espace van. We visited Gerben and Lidy in Almelo. Lisa was the navigator, and the spotter (for those pesky cameras they have set on the highway to observe your actions and mis-deeds). After about 2 hours on that rainy Sunday, we made it to Almelo and relaxed with our friends. Reviewed Gerben's immense collection of Kodachrome slides of military aircraft, spanning some 20 years and including over 40,000 images (fully documenting the type, location and unit of the aircraft). We toured Lidy and Gerben's new house that is under construction. This involved climbing some scaffolding and ladders to get to the top floors. Construction in the Netherlands is interesting. Minimal wood, masonry everywhere, conduit and pipes covered over in the concrete floors. Very solid and quiet buildings. This one was built to look and feel the part of old Dutch architecture. We finished the evening with an excellent Italian meal in Hengelo and managed to get back to The Hague in 2 hours. Got lost 10 minutes from home, but, as you can tell, finally made our destination. The front view Gerben's new house. A picture of the proud owner (Gerben) who helped design the floor plan. This is the view I had every summer morning while waiting for tram number 3. I have watched the trees for 3 seasons (winter with no leaves, spring and the burst of color and life, through summer shade). Looking forward to capturing fall to add to my collection of the four seasons in The Hague. I will post all at the end of this journey.