Stars Through The Mist - Discussion Thread

A bevy of cross-over characters! Adelaide van Essen, Coenraad and baby Champers (ew) (Sister Peters in Amsterdam), Professor de Wit, Dominic and Abigail van Wiljkelen (Saturday's Child)

Gerard owns a BMW 3.O CSL (in my version it's referred to as a BMW 3 OCSL)coupe and she has gone through a couple of Fiat 500s.  I guess when you compare the retro cartoon look of the Fiat to the retro space-age look of the BMW, the BMW does look much more like a 'serious' automobile. I'm not convinced it looks like it could do an 'enormous speed'...but again, compared to the Fiat I guess it does.

Calvinists vs. Catholics  (Deborah is worried that he won't like that she works at a Catholic orphanage) I found an article that addresses some of the underlying problems:

The third wave of the Reformation, Calvinism, arrived in the Netherlands in the 1560s, converting both parts of the elite and the common population, mostly in Flanders. The Spanish government, under Philip II started harsh persecution campaigns, supported by the Spanish inquisition. In reaction to this persecution, Calvinists rebelled. First there was the Beeldenstorm in 1566, which involved the destruction of religious depictions in Churches. Also in 1566 William the Silent, a convert to Calvinism, started the Eighty Years' War to liberate the Calvinist Dutch from the Catholic Spaniards. The counties of Holland and Zeeland were conquered by Calvinists in 1572. A considerable number of people were Calvinist in Holland and Zeeland at that time already, while the other states remained almost entirely Catholic. The estates of Holland, led by Paulus Buys decided to support William the Silent, the Prince of Orange. All churches in the Calvinist territories became Calvinist and most of the population in these territories converted to or were forced to convert to Calvinism. Because the Netherlands had ceded from Spain over both political and religious issues, it practiced certain forms of tolerance towards people of certain other religions and opened its borders for religious dissenters (Protestants and Jews) from elsewhere, while maintaining its persecution and later discrimination against native Catholics. Descartes for instance lived in the Netherlands for most of his adult life. (excerpt from: History of religion in the Netherlands from Wikipedia)

Wow, Eighty Years' War.

What is the likelihood that the doctor ever would have hired someone susceptible to running away with a Claude?  Discuss.

Deborah has an aunt who lives in a town called 'Twice Brewed', hard by Hadrian's Wall.  As unlikely as this name appears to be, Betty Neels did not invent it.  Nope, I was able to find it on google maps.The next time you take a walking tour of Hadrian's Wall, you could stay in the inn. Here's what I found on wiki:

Once Brewed, also known as Twice Brewed or Once Brewed/Twice Brewed is a village in Northumberland, England. It lies on the Military Road (Northumberland) B6318.

According to a sign in the Once Brewed Youth Hostel, there first was a Twice Brewed Inn, and the youth hostel was therefore called "Once Brewed".

Once Brewed is in the parliamentary constituency of Hexham.
The village consists of the Twice Brewed inn, an YHA youth hostel and a visitor centre to the Northumberland National Park, and also some farms. One of the farms is a bit further away, and is called "West Twice Brewed" on the Ordnance Survey maps.

Both the Twice Brewed Inn and the youth hostel are popular sleeping places for walkers on the Hadrian's Wall Path and the Pennine Way.

The Twice Brewed Inn is just about half way between
Carlisle and Newcastle Upon Tyne, at the southern end
of the Northumbrian National Park.