61. Ciao, Bella Italia

Sunday, January 26, 2020: Paola makes me a huge lunch—two big sandwiches of tomatoes, lettuce, and various cheeses crammed into ciabatta flats, an apple, some carrots, several plump Medjool dates, a bunch of Ringo vanilla cream cookies, and an entire bar of Lindt dark chocolate—for my long journey to the Milano airport. At the appointed

60. One last hike on the Carso above Trieste

Saturday, January 25, 2020: Friend and hiking partner Roberto picks us up early Saturday morning, and we drive up the mountain above Trieste to the small village of Santa Croce (population 1,800), where Franca, another friend and fellow hiker, lives and has lived all of her life. We drive to the locale of Mt. Ermada

59. Back to Italy, and more must-sees of Trieste

Thursday, January 23, 2020: Today is a travel day. We leave Leiden at 8:30 a.m., and I won’t arrive back in Trieste until 11:00 p.m. Marie-Louise’s train route to return home to Groningen goes through Schiphol Airport, so she accompanies me to my terminal. In a small airport shop, we finally find the Lindt dark

58. Leiden, An historical and cultural center

Wednesday, January 22, 2020: Today, my last day in Holland before returning to Italy, we’re exploring Leiden, the city where both Eric and Marie-Louise passed their childhoods and went to university. Established in 1266, Leiden is the site of centuries of history and home to the oldest university in the Netherlands, Leiden University, founded in

57. Van Gogh, Museum Van Loon, and Anne Frank’s Secret Annex

Tuesday, January 21, 2020: We’re off for a return trip to Amsterdam, as we have early morning, timed-tickets at the Van Gogh Museum, which has the world’s largest Van Gogh collection; this grouping includes around 200 paintings—flowers, landscapes, self-portraits, still lifes—400 drawings, and 700 letters. There’s a great deal to learn—and enjoy, of course—about Van

56. Pieter de Hooch in Delft and Madurodam miniatures in Den Haag

Monday, January 20, 2020: We wake up early to catch the train to Delft, about twenty minutes south and a bit west of Leiden, our home base away from home. In Delft, there’s a special exhibit that we want to see entitled Pieter de Hooch in Delft: From the Shadow of Vermeer. We arrive early

55. The Rijks Museum and Jewish Amsterdam

Sunday, January 19, 2020: We wake up at 5:30 a.m., quickly eat our granola and Greek yogurt; slurp our hot tea; grab apples, chocolates, and dates, stuffing them into our packs; say good-bye to Sjors, the dog; and dash out the door. Eric drives us to the Groningen train station, and I say my final

54. Schiermonnikoog, Isle of the Monks in Grey Habits

Saturday, January 18, 2020: We get up early and drive about an hour to a port along the coast of the Wadden Sea, which is an inlet of the North Sea. We take a ferry to Schiermonnikoog, or Isle of the Monks in Grey Habits, the smallest inhabited West Frisian island. The entire island is

53. Buildings and bikes in Groningen, and an Indonesian dinner

Friday, January 17, 2020: We visit Marie-Louise’s office where she is the project manager for the region’s water authority, which, as you can imagine, is quite important since Holland and water are inextricably linked; a fifth of the total surface area of the country consists of water. Water control is essential to Holland’s survival, and

52. Westerbork, a Nazi transit camp

Thursday, January 16, 2020: Marie-Louise goes to work, and Eric and I set off for Westerbork, about 30 minutes from Groningen, one of two transit camps in Holland where Jews, including Anne Frank, were held before deportation to death camps. When we arrive, we find that the museum has been temporarily closed for cleaning, but