The Longest Day

Jason and Chuck having a chat in the Hague
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In the Hague, a modest little town of a half million, it has been uncommonly dry and hot so far this year, which, in context, means there is moss growing on only certain trees and a limited number of snails creeping up the side of the electrical relay box on the Groot Hertoginnen Brug. Our hair feels smooth, there are strange pollens in the air, and it rained for hours this afternoon while we tried to sleep off the jet lag. This kind of drought seems pretty modest by Casper standards.

We are staying with Chuck, Guy's first cousin twice removed, and his lifelong partner Kees, at their beautiful home in the Hague a few minutes' walk off of Valkenbosplein, a smallish crossroads in a 1920s neighborhood with a few shops, restaurants and professional offices. We're about 10 minutes from the North Sea and a quick tram ride from the heart of the city , which grew out of a count's court of the Middle Ages into a modern government and commercial center in southwestern Holland. It is certainly far more straight-laced and businesslike than Amsterdam, but we have really come to love this city.

It has been uncommonly dry and hot so far this year, so there is moss growing on only certain trees

This is the Longest Day of the trip (and of the year 2007), and it is now Hour 30. To keep from collapsing we took a series of walks along major streets and canals in this familiar neighborhhod between rain showers. Along the canals were ducks and a beautiful blue heron, tall thickets of reeds, lilypads and algae floating lazily through early 18th century canal locks. The smells of plant humus and wet soil fill the air here, but we won't have time to get very accustomed to it until next week. Tomorrow we get up around 5 am to take a series of trains to Berlin and begin our travels in earnest with three days in Germany's capital city. Tonight however: spaghetti with fantastic beef sauce, chocolate, coffee, tea, liquor and friendship, mixed with Dutch television, photographs, family stories, reminiscence, unpacking, repacking and last minute arrangements for the morning.

We have an adventure getting to Berlin: a four-minute span to change trains in Duisberg. That should be fun ...