A book and a party
Irmtraud did not write much about what she was doing the last years after the serious operation she had. This does not mean that she was not active. Several years she was collecting more information about the woman who played an important role in her dissertation in history, Margret of Austria. She decided to write a novel about her. Therefore, she collected information and she followed a course in writing of novels. In 2018, she finished this work and published the book. I and many other people have read the book with great pleasure because she clearly showed that she also can write novels. Margret of Austria is an interesting person to write about because, as a child, she was a tool used in political games. After three forced marriages, she refused to marry again. Then she was appointed by her father, emperor Maximilian I as regent of the Netherlands (1507–15, 1519–30) and helped Charles V to become emperor. Irmtraud wrote the book in her mother-language, German. So far, it is not clear whether a English translation will follow.
50 years married
In 1968, when the big riots took place in many municipal towns in Europe, Irmtraud and I married in Vienna but also my sisters Truus en Fieneke married in the same year. That means in 2018, we all three were married 50 years. Not only that we married in the year 1968 was a surprising fact but that all three couples still were married was even more surprising.
In 1968, when the big riots took place in many municipal towns in Europe, Irmtraud and I married in Vienna but also my sisters Truus en Fieneke married in the same year. That means in 2018, we all three were married 50 years. Not only that we married in the year 1968 was a surprising fact but that all three couples still were married was even more surprising.
It will be clear that a party had to be organized and we decided to organize it together and not in three different events and in order to limit the number of participants, it was decided to make it a family event. Therefore, only the children of my parents with husbands and wives, their children and the grandchildren were invited. This was already a lot of people around 50. Irmtraud and I were the only ones who did not contribute to this number because we decided in the very start of our relationship that we did not want to have children. The others had not made the same decision as can be seen on the photos.
The party would take place in the house of one of us with a lot of space. We planned that each of the couples would present something of their own life during the celebration. We made a video about our life. In this website you can find a lot of information about our life. What we didn't show here was how we looked like when we were young. I think it is a nice memory about these good old times.
Another type of party
After this celebration we went back to Spain and made holidays in Spain especially in the region of Alicante and visited also the famous holiday resort Benidorm to see how it looks like. We saw that some supermarkets were only selling alcoholic drinks and the boulevard was crowded by British tourists. One of them mentioned in a newspaper that there were too many Spanish people in Benidorm. This was not our impression as you see below. You can imagine that we did not stay there too long. Fortunately, there are many better places along the coast of Spain.
After this celebration we went back to Spain and made holidays in Spain especially in the region of Alicante and visited also the famous holiday resort Benidorm to see how it looks like. We saw that some supermarkets were only selling alcoholic drinks and the boulevard was crowded by British tourists. One of them mentioned in a newspaper that there were too many Spanish people in Benidorm. This was not our impression as you see below. You can imagine that we did not stay there too long. Fortunately, there are many better places along the coast of Spain.