Amsterdam

Well I safely arrived in Amsterdam on Monday eve after an eleven hour journey  fom Copenhagen to Germany and then Holland. The novelty of the trip was the train going onto a ferry. I knew that there was water  between Denmark and Germany but just presumed there'd  be a very long bridge!

Also made a travel companion along the way. Maria Dominicci is from Virginia USA but has live in Korea  for the last few years. She's currently  travelling  Europe and setting up her travel blog. Check out http://beyondthepassport.com

On the Saturday,  just before coming to Amsterdam , I got the opportunity  to visit Dorte and Elli Kappelgaard's island house. It's located 40min by  train outside of Copenhagen. It's a beautiful house on a tiny island in the middle of a lake. The sun was hot and we had the opportunity  to swim in the lake.

Dorte and Elli are the organisers of Openspace arts conference. We spent the day also with Leah, whom I'd interviewed  at the conference,  and Monique who works with the Wayfarers trust. I had the opportunity  to interview Dorte about the community projects she has done over the years. It was very interesting to hear hows she has engaged local community in poetry writing.

 On Tuesday I visited the Rembrant House Museum in Amsterdam and yesterday visited the very exciting De Hogewey dementia village in Weesp, a fifteen min train journey outside of Amsterdam.

Yesterday was one of those times that really struck me as a life changing moment. It made sense of my nine year frustration with the English care system and showed that there is an alternative model that works!