When I travelled back home from Lesbos at the end of March I had to spend a night in Athens, but due to the lockdown I could not visit any site or museum. I had a walk near the place where I stayed though, and a good rest, and a long, warm shower, which was a treat after the shower in the volunteer house in Lesbos. It was a bit sad to leave colleagues from the camp behind, not knowing whether they would be granted a residence permit to start a new life in Europe. I wish I could do more work for the cause of the refugees, I will restart looking for something matching my skills and interest.
Although the weather remained quite chilly throughout April, I decided to take my van on a short trip. I left for the village of Aarle Rixtel (the Netherlands) on Sunday 25 April, where I spent 2 nights at a very green and eco-friendly camp site, full of ‘art’ as well, such as glass butterflies, and some statues. I made a few tours on my bicycle, a bit tough because of the wind, but still enjoyable. The evenings and the nights were quite cold, it took me a while to get warm in bed and fall asleep. Camping is definitely not as pleasant at lower temperatures! I was so utterly content to be back home and sit and sleep in a warm room!
A week later, on Sunday 2 May I left again for a trip. Still not the best of weather but I invested in the camper van so I will use it (hahaha……). I went to Acquoy near the river Linge. I was there last year and really liked the place. Lots of rain this time, and very cold at night, but the area was still worth exploring, which I did and loved. I had bought an e-bike and taken the new bike with me, so cycling in heavy wind has become a piece of cake. One day I had to stay inside the van because the wind was too strong, even for an e-bike. I had some work to do, so it was more or less fine. The muddy camp site (because of the rain) was not much fun but the showers were great and the owners so very, very kind, that I had a smile on my face anyway.
On Friday 7 May I left for Fort Buitensluis, an old fortress on the shore of one of the very big rivers: ‘Hollands Diep’, where I met my friends Will and Robert who had told me about this very special camp site and made me want to camp there as well. It was indeed a magnificent site on the waterfront. On Friday we cycled to the old, fortified town of Willemstad. I had never been there, but it is really worth visiting, in particular on a sunny day. Terraces were open again after the lockdown so we had a nice glass of wine in the sun. Lucky us, until the next day…….. We had set out on the bike to visit the small island of Tiengemeten (you have to cross the water with a ferry), and we did visit, for about half an hour……… The rain and the wind was so fierce that we decided to take the next ferry back. We spent that afternoon playing board games inside, which was actually also good fun.
On Sunday 9 May I left for Kruiningen, in the province of Zeeland, where I found myself again on a very nice camp site, surrounded by young fruit trees. Lots of cycling lanes along the sea. Windy, but nice. At 3 kilometers from the camp site there was the village of Yerseke, very well known for its oysterfarming, good quality oysters. I went there a couple of times to taste some oysters and enjoy eating the fresh fish from the sea.
I went home on 12 May, was very happy to be at home, as always, and left again (yes!) on 19 May for Utrecht, where I worked as a volunteer in the SPRING Festival of Performing Arts. Again a beautiful, very small, and very green camp site, just north of the city of Utrecht. On my (normal) bike 20 minutes to get to the city center. Again rainy and windy weather that week. On Whit Monday our Tilburg Shelter City guest (I volunteer with Shelter City as well) came to Utrecht and together we visited two performances in the festival. I have seen more shows, since for every shift you work you can visit a performance, unless sold out. On one of my last days in the festival I visited two performances where I had to make vlogs for the festival. I was a bit nervous about it as I had never done that before. Since I always think I can do anything, I had offered my ‘services’ as a vlogger. I managed to do it (yes!) and they were posted on SPRING's Instagram account. These two installations were truly awesome!!! R for Resonance from Ho Tzu Nyen, an artist from Singapore, and Mount Average from Julian Hetzel. For those in the Netherlands: the installations will be touring in the Netherlands. If you have a chance to go: GO!! As you may see in one of the pictures my face was ‘used’ as one of the faces for the publicity campaign of this year’s edition. I have never done that before either (smile).
I have planned more trips, some in the Netherlands, and a longer trip to Germany and Denmark. You will hear about that next time! In the meantime I wish you sunny days!!
