On 20 March, Kevin and I traveled to Chicago for the NCSA conference where we had a wonderful time as always.
Here we are in our hotel
Helen Roth welcoming Kevin at registration.
A dear friend Bob Ryan, member of this 19th Century Studies Conference that we have been attending since we married. It is interdisciplinary, thus appealing to both of us.
I unfortunately twisted my ankle in a pothole; however, that made airplane traveling pretty easy as I requested a wheelchair and was wheeled around.
I was very worried as my big trip to UK, Amsterdam, and Poland followed on 25 March. Again, I used the sprained ankle to help with the travel and arrived in UK on 26, making my way over to Benn Street--so good to be in London....
Where the Lovely Lucy lives. We had a good visit.
While Lucy was in school, Helen toured me all around the new Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park--quite an exciting space for Londoners.
Beyond those trees are walkways designed by Jonathan.
And there is a shopping mall here also where I was able to do some banking.
I had a day about town and talked with this nice young man at Liberty's--he was wearing a shirt made of Tana Lawn that he had made himself. I like the orange tabs on the collar.
I spent time with Sophie, Jonathan, and Akihort. Sophie and Jonathan took me to a delightful Sherlock Holmes play.
The next day the Drurys and I traveled to meet our Easy Jet flight to Amsterdam, compliments of Jim!
We had so much fun traveling together! Lucy is an adventurous traveler!
In Amsterdam, we went our separate ways as I was staying with Ania and Monica in a comfortable and convenient Air BnB. Here is what we saw on our way to the metro one morning!
We all met at a favorite Indonesian restaurant Kantjil & De Tijger (Kevin and I had a delicious meal here in 2006 while on the way to Amman).
We saw one of these traveling bars. All these people were drinking beer and paddling the truck to make it go.
Lucy made this lovely coaster for me!
And my meal--Rijsttafel which is Dutch inspired, a kind of small smorgasbord of Indonesian rice dishes and absolutely delicious.
We had a lovely walk around the city afterwards.
An interesting ad!
Through the red light district
It was a lovely night...
Ania, Monica, and I traveled one day to Keukenhof, famous gardens which on this day were in full bloom and scent. We had an amazing day walking around and seeing what the Dutch tulips of our imagination.
The gardens are covered with pathways, formal gardens as well as naturalized.
An interesting museum
We had a lovely day!
Another day we toured the museum district. President Obama had recently been here and had a photograph taken in front of this famous Rembrandt, The Nightwatch.
Lovely Vermeer--we had just watched "The Girl with the Pearl Earring" the night before.
And here is our Anna--among us three, we took hundreds of photos.
Later, we went on a fascinating canal tour
A unique beautiful city with a fascinating history--we heard tempting tidbits our our tour.
We traveled back to Warsaw and spent the night in Monica's lovely flat. On the drive to Krakow Ania surprised me with a stop at the museum honoring the Polish writer Witold Gombrowicz (1904-1969). He wrote Ferdyduke which K and I tried to read before we went to Krakow in 1988. It was our first glimpse into that postmodern irony that we found in Poland.
This palace built by his brother in 1914 houses a well-done exhibit resonant of Gombrowicz and his time and travels to Argentina and France.
Stain glass on the stairwell
Finally Biscupice and a reunion with Kaja, Napo, Leon, and Mizka. Spring is coming here, also.
We went into the gallery
And found beautiful pottery.
Another night Ania took me to the meeting of the Biscopice ladies who were making flowers for Easter. We walked up to the community center in the gloaming.
The ladies taught me how to make the flowers and we had such a good time! I have met these ladies before and always enjoy their company although most speak Polish and I speak English! It is fun to hang out with others speaking another language.
These hyacinths look as real as those in Keukenhof but alas without the scent.
Another night, Kaja and I had dinner together on the Rynek.
While Lucy was in school, Helen toured me all around the new Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park--quite an exciting space for Londoners.
Beyond those trees are walkways designed by Jonathan.
And there is a shopping mall here also where I was able to do some banking.
I had a day about town and talked with this nice young man at Liberty's--he was wearing a shirt made of Tana Lawn that he had made himself. I like the orange tabs on the collar.
I spent time with Sophie, Jonathan, and Akihort. Sophie and Jonathan took me to a delightful Sherlock Holmes play.
The next day the Drurys and I traveled to meet our Easy Jet flight to Amsterdam, compliments of Jim!
We had so much fun traveling together! Lucy is an adventurous traveler!
In Amsterdam, we went our separate ways as I was staying with Ania and Monica in a comfortable and convenient Air BnB. Here is what we saw on our way to the metro one morning!
We all met at a favorite Indonesian restaurant Kantjil & De Tijger (Kevin and I had a delicious meal here in 2006 while on the way to Amman).
We saw one of these traveling bars. All these people were drinking beer and paddling the truck to make it go.
Lucy made this lovely coaster for me!
And my meal--Rijsttafel which is Dutch inspired, a kind of small smorgasbord of Indonesian rice dishes and absolutely delicious.
An interesting ad!
Through the red light district
Our purpose in Amsterdam was to attend Orphans Conference held in an impressive waterfront theatre known as The Eye. We rode a ferry to get there. A German artist Werner Nekes was given the Helen Hill award. He has a museum of early moving image-making contraptions. He had a long table full of these which he explained as a camera looked at them close up. Helen Hill would have been fascinated with these objects.
It was very special to be there with the Drurys and Ania and Monica. And so nice for Ania to meet all. Monica had met the Drurys pre Lucy in London in 2008. So she got to meet Lucy!
Ania, Monica, and I traveled one day to Keukenhof, famous gardens which on this day were in full bloom and scent. We had an amazing day walking around and seeing what the Dutch tulips of our imagination.
The gardens are covered with pathways, formal gardens as well as naturalized.
Favorite Flowers--Fritilleras swinging over BlueBells....
We toured the canals lined with blooming flower forests.
Lovely exhibit greenhouses--Imagine the scent of these hyacinths!
The orchids were ravishing!
Another day we toured the museum district. President Obama had recently been here and had a photograph taken in front of this famous Rembrandt, The Nightwatch.
I loved this twirling statue. I think it was St Anne with her husband, maybe celebrating her pregnancy with Mary!
And here is our Anna--among us three, we took hundreds of photos.
Later, we went on a fascinating canal tour
A unique beautiful city with a fascinating history--we heard tempting tidbits our our tour.
And lunch along the canal before our flight back to Poland.
This palace built by his brother in 1914 houses a well-done exhibit resonant of Gombrowicz and his time and travels to Argentina and France.
Stain glass on the stairwell
Gombrowicz and his wife Rita Labrosse.
Finally Biscupice and a reunion with Kaja, Napo, Leon, and Mizka. Spring is coming here, also.
One day, Ania took Kaja and me to Lanckorona, an old town full of history, now a tourist destination known for its well-reserved 19th century wooden houses, like the kind we found in Zakopane.
An old resort
We enjoyed lunch in a cozy restaurant. I especially loved the pottery displays.
And found beautiful pottery.
Another night Ania took me to the meeting of the Biscopice ladies who were making flowers for Easter. We walked up to the community center in the gloaming.
The ladies taught me how to make the flowers and we had such a good time! I have met these ladies before and always enjoy their company although most speak Polish and I speak English! It is fun to hang out with others speaking another language.
These hyacinths look as real as those in Keukenhof but alas without the scent.
We walked around Krakow. I saw her city flat and we visited a very interesting book shop. I loved the author photographs and autographs on the walls.
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