We returned from our travel to Holland and to Scotland last night.

It was a great trip.  We stayed in Haarlem in the Netherlands for 5 days.  There we visited tulip gardens. It was just after the tulips’ peak and raining but very beautiful anyway.  We enjoyed walking all around the old town of Haarlem.  The town center is mostly foot and bicycle and many of the buildings are quite old. We visited the old church, St. Bavo Church, now called the Grote Kerk, which was built during the period from 1370 to 1538.  The Christian Muller organ in the church was constructed in 1738 and looks quite impressive.  It was played once by Mozart and by G. F. Handel.  While touring the church we had the good fortune to hear someone practicing on the organ and it was quite impressive.  We went to the Frans Hals museum which has a lot of interesting things about Haarlem as well as paintings by the old master and by other lesser known masters.  It was very good.

We also took the 20 minute train ride to Amsterdam one day.  Walked about the city and spent time in the Rijksmuseum visiting more of the old masters like Rembrandt and Vermeer as well as works by more modern artists like Van Gogh.  We tried to visit the Van Gogh museum which is near the Rijksmuseum but the line was so long that our limited time would not permit.  It was a very pleasant day with good weather.

We found the Dutch people to be very pleasant and handsome people.  In the cities, the bicycle is probably the main mode of transportation. A plus for us language impaired Americans is that they all speak english very well.

We flew from Holland to Edinburgh in Scotland.  We visited a few places there and after one day took a bus to Cellardyke where our son and his family lives (He teaches at the University of St. Andrews). There spent 5 days visiting, walking along the coast and playing with our one year old grandbaby.  He is quite adorable.  We got re-acquainted with some of the best fish and chips in the UK.

A great trip!  But… traveling with carcinoid is not always a picnic.  There were alternating bouts of diarrhea and constipation.  Not so good on long flights and bus rides.  Fortunately, my medications control it mostly.  I also experienced the fatigue common to many cancer patients.  I needed at least a couple of days to restrict my walking about and let my wife go on her own.  There was also some dizziness from the various heart stuff.  Nothing really serious but this is something each of us with carcinoid has to be constantly aware of.

May we all have the best possible outcomes,

Cy

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2014 Cyril Ball