Europe Has Fallen

To be honest, the trip to Europe last fall was tough.

Not in a personal sense, really at all. In fact on that score, it was a great triumph.

We traveled with ease, in what would have been to me, at an earlier age, grand luxury.  Discomfort was minor. Incidents few. Working from the road while relocating almost constantly was a mere slight burden at this point.  The one true crisis I encountered was solved by folks back at home with only the slightest need for intervention on my part.

We got to see some amazing sights. Above all, we got to interact with marvelous people.

But Europe itself on the other hand, felt quite different. We both noticed it to a strong degree, almost everywhere we went. The Spirt of 1985 seems like a long time ago. The wind felt so strongly towards freedom back then. Now a stagnant chill seems to have fallen over much of the continent. Things have changed. Things just feel so different, even in the prosperous cheery places.

Thankfully there were pockets and islands of burgeoning life still, where one does not feel this chill so strongly. The Netherlands are probably the best example of this.

I would include Iceland of course, as the best example of the Spirit of the People, but geologically it is half in North America, so I consider it to be neutral ground, at least, if not on our side completely.