An afternoon in Thorn, wandering around its cobbled streets and whitewashed houses, we learnt about ambitious medieval abbesses ruling for 800 years from 990 and how the town avoided being taxed in the Napoleonic era by bricking up windows.
Its a simple solution when you are taxed on the number of windows your house has, it was certainly fun picking out the bricked in windows masked by the whitewash.
This is a world apart from Amsterdam and the windmills and tulips of the Netherlands. Jan, Fred and I also lucked upon the Sittard Philharmonic rehearsing in the open air theatre set in the ruins of the abbey. The acoustics and the setting were quite remarkable and made for a gentle and reflective moment in this peaceful White Village.
