Composition

Summer is coming. Time to think and dream about 'Where To Go To' this year's summer. 

I loved to stroll in the streets of Obidos (Portugal). The walk on Offa's Dyke in Wales (United Kingdom) was satisfying more. I met God in the church of Czestochowa (Poland) more. My favorite place for skiing is Voralberg in Austria more. The view from the mont Ventoux (France) was breathtaking. I long for the colours and smell I saw on the coast of Alicante (Spain). One day I'd love to have a little hotel somewhere along the mediterranean sea in Egypt. I could live in Germany. I'm very content with my old house and little village (The Netherlands) I live in. But ... - take a breath! 

there is only one place on this Earth I immediatly felt at home: Lake Annecy (France). To be more exact: it was home. It felt natural and familiar. The views. The course of the streets. The composition of the mountains and water everywhere. I know it sounds stupid and crazy but I must have been there before. 

We travelled via Verdun and the Jura to Menthon-Saint-Bernard on the edge of Lac D'Annecy (english 'Lake Annecy'). It was a bit windy. The air was full of rain - but it wasn't raining. When I drove into the valley I knew where to drive to. I knew what the next view would be. I just knew ...

Question: Ever been to a place you must have been to - somehow - before? How?

Aswan. April 3th 1987

Aswan. Late in the afternoon on April 3th, 1987. Old Cataract Hotel on the back. Sitting on a big red rock. Fresh wind. Sun going down. The feeling of a rock radiating its warmth. Feluccas sailing by. Noises. Sitting in the black and fertile world (ancient Egyptian 'kemet'). Looking at the other side of the river Nile, the red world of the dead (ancient Egyptian 'deshret'). Thinking about Lord Carnavon and Howard Carter. Puzzling on what's the same and different in ancient and modern day Egypt. Wondering on Tutankaten and Tutankamun, two radical and different religious names for the same physical man. Feluccas sailing by. Riverbed with water floating. The same riverbed. For ancient egyptians. For present day egyptians.

Suddenly, everything was quiet and one. The world with all its sounds and motions came to a standstill. For a few seconds I felt "...", One with the universe and humanity. For a few seconds - that seemed to last forever - everything was perfect. THAT! 

P.S. More on this from me.

Some basics on dreams and travels

#Dream #Travel What about you? Where do you want to go to?

Sometimes I think it works like this on planet Earth. Or am I too biased as spoiled Dutchman? People who live in North-Korea dream of fleeing to South-Korea. People who live under a dictator regime dream of living in the "free world". What do you dream of if having good contacts (including nothing comes for free) or go with the flow of corruption is the only way to survive? Do you dream of  Western Europe or USA?

Where do people living in Western Europe dream of? They can't flee - they are already there. People of Northern Europe dream of living around the Mediterranean: an easy and simple life under a warm sun. Where do rich, intelligent and free people around the Mediterranean dream of? For them there is no place they can flee to or dream of. They can only flee to an inner invisible world, to an inner spiritual world or to an imaginary elsewhere.

Seneca (Moral letters to Lucilius/ Letter 104, 8): "O what a blessing it would be for some men to wander away from themselves! As it is, they cause themselves vexation, worry, demoralization, and fear! What profit is there in crossing the sea and in going from one city to another? If you would escape your troubles, you need not another place but another personality."