You are welcome @Appleblossom , I am liking getting to know you better also. Deep conversation is what I like in socialisation, but I have very few (non-forum) friends that i can have those with.
The Netherlands has a very special place in my heart 😍. I fell in love with it the first time I visited, even though I have only been to Amsterdam/Holland region and then a day trip to 2 places outside that region. Since first visiting I always felt "this is a country I could live in". And not just for the cheese! 🤭. I loved the weather too. But the people and the balance between environmentally friendly/conscious but still convenient living was great. And the proximity to the rest of europe for travel... 😍🥰 oh, and Dark Chocomel milk 🤭 was a favourite discovery too. Need i also mention that 24 years ago I discovered Lotus Speculaaspasta and brough multiple jars home 🤭😂 and then learnt to home-make my own spread when it ran out. Ahh and now finally i've been able to buy it here for the past number of years. 😊
Indeed the internet is so good for brining "overseas to our doorstep". Ive heard there are some good VR travel experiences avaipable too, but I've never gotten into VR.
I would love to bring Vienna to your desktop 🥰. If you would enjoy exploring it online with someone, I would definitely get more enjoyment and understanding out of the musical (and cultural related to the music!) things from your knowledge sharing.
Just an idea, no pressure.
It is interesting where people's ancestry comes from. And it can be quite different based on era and, as you say, convict or free-settler or even royalty! I don't think I have any royal blood in my history 😅, darn no secret inheritence for me lol.
When i think about it, I don't really know anything distinctive about my ansestry culture beyond just my grandparents. My father grew up on a farm, where as my mother grew up in suburbia - so quite different day to day life as children. But both went to university and been city-livers ever since, other than visiting countryside. So i guess i grew up with some understanding of the Aussie-farming culture, whilst not identifying with it myself. I feel in the city life that i dont really have a distinctive culture, other than my love for the variety of cultural influences that i get to experience. But when i travel overseas I realise that I do culturally have the "helpful friendly Aussie who treats everyone equally" (not a caste/class based view, personally). I think people in "low class jobs" overseas notice it a lot - that Aussies are more likely to stop and chat with them casually and not talk down to them. (Of course this is not every Aussie!! And its likely that is also because I dont stay in fancy classy places where 'proud' or snobby people would 😅). My friend who is a tour guide in an african country said Aussies were most likely to offer to share their food and beer with the guide 🥰 and treat them like a friend on the week tour also (not as a servant).
