Amsterdam…Barcelona…Basel…London…New York…what makes a city great? A city with history and architecture that reflects the history is important. Walk-ability is critical to my enjoyment. Public transport is also very important. Culture, food, climate…these contribute so much to the experience. But in the final analysis, what has come to mean so much is not what I am looking at but who it is I am talking to.
Basel, my first stop after Dakar, was such a generous experience: staying with Angelo and Stefan, meeting the board of directors of the hospital, spending an evening with our web programmer and her family, enjoying working dinners with friends from the LGBT community with whom I was helping organize a conference…dining on Angelo’s fantastic Sicilian cooking.
And now Amsterdam, where I’ve had the gift of Tom’s hospitality in his cozy apartment overlooking the city, walking the canals of this friendly city, surprising David—along with 22 other friends—for his 50th birthday celebration at Huzze Frankendael, an estate that has been converted to a conference center with fantastic food and public gardens. It was quite a spectacular location for a surprise…And he was surprised as he turned from greeting his Amsterdam-based friends and found Angelo and Stefan from Basel, Mike (his former Oklahoma University college roommate) who lives in Atlanta, Linda who flew in from Valencia, Spain, and me. He cried. We laughed. We talked and ate and drank until midnight.
This afternoon I rendezvoused briefly with David and Michael, Angelo and Stefan before I took myself to a Netherlands Philharmonic concert at the Concertgebouw. Friendship coupled with Mahler…two compelling, driving, powerful forces. The combination left me completely satisfied and ready for the next leg of this trip. Off to London tomorrow for fundraising on behalf of the hospital. On Thursday, I’m returning to New York and those 20-year friendships…I can hardly wait.
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