LIZ SAYS: On the way to Amsterdam on the train, I was completely overwhelmed with the news of the day. The visual on France24 of a yellowish green gray cloud of nuclear emissions spreading over the earth and heading towards Paris had brought back memories of the nuclear fear instilled in me and all of my generation from our earliest days at school. The mere idea that it could be ’not harmful’ was impossible to believe. Duck and cover.
We’d planned this trip to Amsterdam to see what we could see, see, see and to visit Eric and (Mary) Jo, friends from, as they put it ‘the old country’. We met them in Milwaukee when Dick and Eric were in bands and Eric and Jo were nice, fun people.
We heard they had moved to Amsterdam and we thought, well someday, we will see them.
Paris is about 3-4 hours from Amsterdam on the train by way of Belgium. Its a pleasant ride as you watch the fields turn from industrial to pastoral with sheep and cows to, oh look, there is a windmill!
We were experiencing the same nuclear fallout fears in Australia, and although the popular press assured the people that the drift wouldn't come that far south, it DID bring back those "duck and cover" (with the old turtle, right?) fears. I'm glad that you found a way to offset that scary news and get on with enjoying life in such beautiful places!!
ReplyDelete