Easter's Gifts

It begins with death, of course, on this Good Friday:

"The path of those who preach love, and not hatred, is not easy.

They often have to wear a crown of thorns." --Nelson Mandela

(inside the Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp, Belgium, 2019)

Actually, all of Winter (the season still whimpering like a lion in some places) is also Nature's metaphor for death/hibernation, before Spring's resurrection.  I saw it in the hydrangeas I fell in love with.  Does Nature teach us not to fear death?

Because Easter really does happen.  Easter.  Spring.  Resurrection.

Spring here in Gorinchem jump-started at the end of January with warm rains.

And then a week later came the snow and ice, putting everything on pause!

A month later, at the beginning of March, things picked up again.

We knew it would!

Every Monday, walking home from grocery shopping, I saw the change.

It took my breath away...more than any other Spring ever.

(Was this one of the pandemic gifts?)

The Lion of Winter, of course, always gives way to the Lamb.

The Promise.

That's when Astrid started working her magic, thinking up how we could make this Easter extra special through the eyes of our wee lambsy-divey granddaughter, Hailey, age 2-1/2.

For several weeks in a row, Astrid blew out the yolks of eggs (Saturday breakfasts for us!),

and saved up the shells for the day she started painting them, March 26.

She painted these at home, practicing with different paints, 

making sure everything worked.

(She's one very clever, talented artist, if I may say so myself!)

Then, last Saturday, off we went to Hailey's house to see if she'd catch Oma's bug!

Even Papa caught it and was a good sport.

Both he AND Oma painted their own egg, with Hailey beside them.

(And in case you're wondering, NO, Oma Ginnie made herself the designated photographer.)

I think we found our new, budding artist!

Don't you just love her blobs/globs of paint?!  Why didn't WE think of that?!

"Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart."

--Winnie the Pooh

Oma Astrid knows all about cleanup, after which we ate lunch.

Easter.  Spring.  Resurrection.  Hailey.

I don't know about you but it's all different this year, taking on new meaning.

Gifts for the Soul midst the pandemic that's still not over, especially here in Europe.

(My two Pfizer jabs are scheduled for April 15 and May 20.

Hopefully Astrid's will come shortly thereafter!)

Paasbrunch (Easter Brunch) the Dutch Way

The first thing to say is....

More Dutch you cannot get!

And then, out of the 145 apartments where we live in our senior complex, with 200+ residents, there is always a core of us who get together for special holiday events...like Easter brunch.  For those of us who don't have relatives nearby...or a church service...we have something to make us feel festive.  

This time there were 23 of us.  We started at 11 a.m. and finished two hours later.  But pay attention because this all happens in a sequence and in separate courses, one at a time.  Just when you think there couldn't possibly be more, it goes on...and on.

The table was set, waiting for us with glasses of orange juice.

Look at all that yellow.  So perfect for Spring and Easter.

As we all gathered, champagne was served and we gave our toast:  "Proost!"

Then baskets of French bread were added to the tables,

with both plain and herbal butters nearby....

...to accompany the choice of soup next being served:  chicken or vegetable (with meatballs).

Many, like Astrid, had one bowl of each.  And why not!

It wouldn't be Easter (or Sunday!) without a hard-boiled egg, of course.

But for some reason, I always forget that a salad is coming.

It's a ground potato-ham mixture with accompanying cherry tomatoes and silver onions,

and another boiled egg on top.

Notice that by this point my champagne is gone.

Which made for the perfect timing of the coffee or tea making its rounds.

Of course, we hadn't had enough to eat by then, so...

bring out the feeststol...the Dutch bread served at Christmas and Easter!

It's the almond-paste center that makes it different from the German stollen.

Astrid calls it a sugar bomb, but at only two times a year, who cares, right?!

Oh, and as if we hadn't had enough eggs already, there were scrambled eggs with Dutch spek/bacon!

The deli plate was for the rolls, in case you weren't full enough.

And finally, there was the canned fruit cocktail (which I actually grew up on, interestingly).

And a surprise Belgian chocolate Easter bunny, one for everybody.

Are you still hungry????

Over the course of 2 hours, it all settles in.

As does the getting to know each other better.

This is why we love these times together.  Fellowship.  Koinonia.

Going around the table, one by one, yakkity-yak.

These are the people we have grown to love, some of whom are my Rummikub mates on Fridays.

Riet and Ria (top-center) were two, besides Ineke, who bought and organized all the food,

with heavy financial subsidizing by our Poort 6 management:

we paid €3 per person!

All the familiar suspects....with Ineke, top right and bottom.

The lady sitting next to me turns 91 in June, 3 days after I turn 71.

I told Astrid I may rethink not wanting to live that long...if I can look like that!

As they say, all good things come to an end,

but not without help.

The residents' committee had everything under control, of course.

Let's call it  Dutch Cleaning Clean-up.

The remains of the day, with email addresses handed out....
(they all knew I was taking pictures for something).

Yup.  This was our celebration for Easter, and....

More Dutch you cannot get!

Viking's Grand European River Cruise: Melk & Krems, Austria

Viking River Cruise, Day 11:  Melk & Krems, Austria (Facebook collage)

(click any collage to enlarge)

I'll tell you right now from the get-go that this day is divided into 3 parts, starting after breakfast and ending before dinner.  Another full day!

The main excursion of the day was the Melk Abbey, after docking in Melk, Austria...a town of 5K+ population...while we were eating breakfast.  By 9:30 a.m. we were raring to go.

 And YES, we awakened to snow!

It was a short walk from the ship to our buses...with the Abbey already in view from the ship.

This is what Melk is known for:  the Benedictine Melk Abbey, founded in 1089.

The golden yellow against the white snow was magical...like a fairytale.

Sitting high up on the hilltop, the views to the town below are spectactular.

I am such a fan of archways and long corridors like this, both inside and out.

Part of the Abbey is a school for approx. 900 students, and I can picture walking these halls every day!

Our guide took us through several rooms, including the Green Room, the Abbey museum....

...the Marble Hall with its magnificant ceiling paintings...

and the library (where taking pictures was sadly prohibited).

Then it was down the famous spiral staircase from the library to the church.

Upon entering the Abbey church, we were then on our own to explore at will.

And to just stare!

I pictured myself as a student there, going to chapel every morning!

Don't you wonder how such an environment affects school kids!

And on that note...we left the Abbey and headed down the hill to the town.

It was an easy walk down, surprisingly.

The Abbey was visible from the town square as we looked back up.

What a sweet little town.

See what I mean?

And that little church we first saw from the Abbey...was open!

It was the last thing we saw before heading back to the boat...(and as of yet has no name!).

But it forever sits in the shadow on the Abbey up above, our last views...

...before crossing the brige to meet up with our boat, waiting for us on the Danube.

It was time for lunch!  We had worked up an appetite.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Part 2 of the day happened after lunch when we cruised through the Wachau Valley.

On that freezing cold day, yes, we went up to the sunroof.

It sure beat running back-n-forth across the lounge to see the sights.

THIS is what I expected Austria to look like!  

  These were some of the churches we saw along the way...and vineyards, too.

And castles!  All in the span of 1.5 hours.  I don't think we could have lasted longer.

It so happens this valley is between Melk (think Abbey, our morning stop) and Krems, our afternoon stop.

It's 40 km (25 miles) in length and perfect for a scenic tour, no matter how cold!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

And now Part 3, Krems...or as you're about to see, it's neighbor, Stein.  It's a funny story, actually.  We were on our own to explore the city any way we wanted until suppertime...about 2.5 hours....

As plain as day, the sign said Krems.

Unbeknownst to us, we were supposed to turn right and walk about a mile to city center.

Instead, we turned left and within minutes were in THIS wee town...which we found out later, after the fact...
was Stein.  Kinda like a suburb?  A neighborhood of Krems, Wiki says.

 But there was method to our madness, you see.

From the boat we could see the high tower of this Frauenbergkirche.

Wouldn't YOU assume that was where we were supposed to go??!! 

Apparently this was St. Michael's church from 1081 but was desecrated in 1785

and restored 1963-1965 as a war memorial.  

Right next door is the St. Nikolaus Church.  Look at how close here.

Did you know St. Nikolaus is the patron saint of sailors?
This church is from 1400, hopefully helping sailors ever since...a short walk from the Danube.

We are gluttons for these small towns in Europe so close to the main rivers.

Did I mention it was the Tuesday before Easter, March 26?

 I don't remember seeing a single soul--or not more than a handful--that late afternoon.
(Everyone else must have been in Krems!)
But we sure got an eye-ful, and that was enough before heading back to the boat.

It was the only cruise day in which we made TWO stops.
And totally worth them both!