In November 1996 when I was still living in Hong Kong I was called into an important meeting in Orange County and upon arrival was checked into a hotel in Irvine. Having arrived there early on a Sunday I got into a cab to explore the area with the intent to go to Newport Beach as my limited knowledge of the area told me that was the place to go after ruling out a longer drive to the Nixon Library. The taxi driver, a friendly Greek guy, insisted I forget about that plan and made it clear I was going to Laguna Beach and if I did not like it he would not charge the fare. Fair enough, so I strolled around Laguna for a few hours until he picked me up and drove me back to my hotel after a brief shopping interlude in Newport. For some reason I have the warmest memories of that afternoon on my own in Laguna and the place left an indelible impression on me. It added to my long love affair with Southern California.
So when we visited San Diego for a long weekend in October 2014, I resolved to go back to Laguna which I knew was a relatively short drive up in the direction of LA along highway 5. Now in the company of Irene and daughters, we did exactly what I did 18 years earlier. We strolled through the village, enjoyed a pizza on the beach nestled between a few homeless people on the one side and a Mercedes owning crowd on the other, braved the powerful waves and just let the calmer side of SoCal embrace us. There is something inherently good and soothing about the place. I just love Laguna Beach.
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View from our Airbnb in Kolonaki towards the Parthenon. In the foreground, ominously, the German embassy.
The beauty of Greece is always captured by the barren rocks, blue sea and sweltering summer heat. It is becoming harder to find unspoilt and underdeveloped Greek territory, but my memory guided me back to a place I visited thirty-eight years ago, intuiting that we may find it unchanged. And surprisingly, it was. Kalymnos is one of the gems of the Dodecanese archipelago in the Aegean Sea. Here is the view of its capital and main harbour, Pothia.
On mountain days like this I always hear and sing Patty Griffin's 'Heavenly Day' as there are few words to describe the breathtaking beauty of Whistler skiing. This photo was taken somewhere in the Symphony Bowl.
On October 17, 2013, I summited Mount Kilimanjaro together with ten others. It was an incredible and worthwhile hike. We spent the night before summiting in the crater which is a much better option than launching your attempt from Kibo which is what most people do. Although staying in the crater may be a bit rough for some, it is one spectacular place to be and allows you a quick ascent to Uhuru Peak.
Below the rapidly melting glacier and photo above the westward view from the crater. This is the view from my father's house in Reeuwijk, The Netherlands. The location and views over the local lakes are spectacular on any given moment. I took this picture around 7:40 AM on February 24, 2013, only a few hours after my dad passed away at age 85. Peace descended over the house and surrounding lakes, or maybe that is what I imagined it to be at the time. In any case, the family was eternally grateful he did not die in a hospital, but in his own bedroom on his own property, surrounded by the lakes he loved so much.
Rotterdam is the city where I attended university in the 1980s. My town of birth Vlaardingen is one of Rotterdam's suburbs and as a child I visited the city - also known as the largest seaport in the world - on a regular basis. When the Nazis invaded Holland in May 1940 the Dutch forces were no match for Hitler's war machine, however a brave battle raged for four days. The Germans demanded a Dutch capitulation which was rejected and in order to put their demand across more forcefully, the Germans bombed Rotterdam. It caused massive loss of life and huge damage and resulted in the defeat of the Dutch troops, starting a nightmare that lasted until May 1945. The heart was ripped out of the city and even in the 1980s the emptiness of a city without a historic heart was palpable. That is captured in the Zadkine's monument above, a photo that I took from the wrong angle as it does not show that the screaming man has in fact no heart, but a gaping hole. You will find this moving piece of remembrance right in Rotterdam's city center. As students we learned the song 'Het Dijklied' or the 'Song of the Dyke' which refers to the deep sadness the songwriter feels as he wanders around the area that was once the thriving heart of Rotterdam's nightlife. Here you have the first part of the song in Dutch and translated in English. I hope it conveys the power and gut wrenching emotion it generates when you read, hear or sing it: Vol van weemoed dwaal ik langs de straten The song writer was Heinz Polzer also known as Drs. P. a former member of my student society. Although graduated as a master in economics, he went on to become a well known artist and performer and is still alive and kicking as I write this at age 94.
This is one of the most spectacular spice stores on the planet, El Babour in Nazareth. We visited this in early 2010 and still use some of the spices we bought here.
One of the more spectacular historic sites in Israel is Caesarea, the town built by Herod the Great and named in honour of the Roman emperor around 25–13 BCE.
Early morning view from the ranch we stayed at in the Tanque Verde area near Tucson, Arizona. Spent a great Christmas here with endless desert hikes and rides. Spectacular area.
In love with this photo - the Pacific Highway somewhere north of Ventura. This was the Christmas Holiday of 2007, on our way to Palm Springs.
Overlooking the Coachella Valley from Keys View on the edge of one of the most spectacular national parks in the US. We visited in 2004, 2005 and 2007.
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February 2020
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