Sharing some of the experiences encountered moving to and living in London … and then moving to Amsterdam! And then, moving to Austin, Texas where Adventure Cow has taken over this blog!
The canals of Amsterdam are the defining feature. The water, the bridges, the trees, the houses. They are a marvel of engineering, especially when you consider most of the central canal district was built in the 1600’s. Amsterdam is literally a hundred swampy islands connected by hundreds of cobblestone bridges. https://canals-amsterdam.nl/
It has been eight months, already! Yet, we continue to be amazed by the beauty of the canals and their interplay with nature. We highly recommend the Netherlands as a ‘bucket list’ destination; while we try almost daily to capture the incredible sights of the city – they do not measure up to seeing the real thing. The following is a sampling of our canal pictures taken over the past eight months. They are not exactly the same and it was some fun for me to sort through all our pictures to find our best of Amsterdam’s canals. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canals_of_Amsterdamhttps://www.holland.com/global/tourism/destinations/amsterdam.htm (FYI, photos are not ‘retouched’. If they appear black and white, that is because some days here also appear black and white. They are roughly in latest to earliest order)
Signs of the end of 2020 have been appearing for weeks now; carts selling fried dough, mulled wine on tap, and the occasional boom of fireworks. December 31 is the culmination day that sends the old year off literally with a bang.
Our first Olliebollen. Fresh from new French bakery next door.
We first saw the red Olliebollen carts back in November. We did not know what they were selling or why. Since then, we have learned that olliebollen, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliebol, translated literally to oil balls, are the traditional new year’s treat which all Dutch eat to bid the old year goodbye. Also, since November, we have had a French bakery open on our corner and starting five days ago they too started selling olliebollen – we had to try them. The dough inside is light with bits of apple, raisins, and currents; the outside fried to a light crunch then dusted in powdered sugar. Yummy! But yesterday, December 31 was absolutely ‘get your olliebollen’ time. Socially distanced lines formed all over as Dutchies waited for their year-end treat.
Note that I try to wait out people before taking pictures – trust me, these places were busy on December 31st.
Gluhwijn has also been on offer since November. https://expatexplore.com/blog/gluhwein-a-traditional-christmas-drink-of-europe/ In non-Covid lockdown times, this mulled wine would be available at the local winter fairs and Christmas markets; but, as we know these are all closed this year. So, in their place, several restaurants, which can only serve take-away, began including gluhwijn as an option. A lovely treat while out for a winter’s walk. Add the wine with the olliebollen and you have an incredibly special treat.
When we moved to Baltimore, we were astounded by the fireworks shows at Oregon Ridge Park. As folks from California, who witnessed Fourth of July displays over the Pacific Ocean, to see fireworks over trees was simply amazing. Then, we learn that here, in the Netherlands, personal fireworks are legal for 8 hours on New Year’s Eve (6pm until 2am) and can be purchased three days prior at sanctioned locations – of course, that is in non-Covid times, not this year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fireworks_policy_in_the_Netherlands This year no place was sanctioned for selling them and there was a 100 Euro fine for lighting fireworks; but as you can see these rules did not stop them from going off. From our apartment we could not see any display, only hear the pop-pop-pop ongoing until well past 2:00 in the morning. Pictures below are from the Internet.
With that, it is now 2021. It feels like the world is sighing in relief to have 2020 behind us – finally. We too are ready to look forward; forward to eating at restaurants (even if outside), forward to travel again, and forward to actual hugs with family and friends, old and new.
Air hugs from Holland! And Happy New Year!
The cart is closed now. It is the new year and time to move forward. No more red carts till next November.
If you Google: “Markets open on Christmas in Amsterdam”, you will find that this is a beautiful place to be this time of year: https://www.iamsterdam.com/en/see-and-do/whats-on/major-events-and-celebrations/christmas/markets I was actually trying to figure out if the grocery stores would be open Christmas day, but found this may be more interesting; if not as useful in 2020. And it turns out that, no, the grocery stores are not open.
Currently, only shops or stands that normally sell food can be open. That means that: The Winter Paradise has gone online, https://www.hetamsterdamsewinterparadijs.nl/ Tickets on sale now for December 2021. The beautiful Ice Village and Kerstmarket at the Museumplein says it is open – but it is not. https://icevillage.nl/ At the end of their webpage is a link to all things Christmas in Amsterdam: https://www.iamsterdam.com/en/see-and-do/whats-on/major-events-and-celebrations/christmas All have been cancelled or, as in the case of the annual Light Festival; severely downsized. The 2020 Light Festival https://amsterdamlightfestival.com/en/edition-9 had no festival, no walking route, and no boat parade; it does have a limited number, seven, of illuminated installations set up in four different sections of the city. But to keep crowds down, the locations are not published – I can’t find them.
But all is not dreary. Christmas day arrived with sunshine predicted for an entire day; this is a true gift as it rains, or is cloudy, almost every day in winter here – such a treat. To celebrate the beautiful day, we each did our outdoor exercise and then after lunch went to several known locations throughout the city to create our own: “Day in pictures; Amsterdam”. Our day has been lovely, and we hope yours was too.
Singlegracht canal at Leidesplein
Vondlepark path
Vondlepark pond
American Hotel at Leidesplein in the sun
The most photographed canal – Princengracht
The Herengracht canal
Centraal Station glows in the sun
Red Light District: OudeKerk and Waag
Just like tourists, taking our pictures outside Centraal Station
Only a small part of the bike parking at Centraal Station
Andy waiting outside the Waag for our Gluwijn (mulled wine) and beignets
The Waag from our seat on park bench
The Red Light District is beautiful, maybe more so without tourists and sex workers
Rokin looking toward Dam Sq
Good Chinese on Rokin
Rokin looking away Dam Sq
We end our day out by ordering Chinese food to eat later for dinner
We turn right from Rokin to see the sun setting close to the Floating Flower Market
The sunny day in Amsterdam is over; time now to watch movies and eat our Chinese food. Our “Day in pictures; Amsterdam” completed for December 25, 2020.
Seriously trying to take a good holiday picture. The lights look good, anyway
What a difference a year has made. A year ago, we celebrated Thanksgiving at the Parsons Green Pub, which had a great dinner with whisky cocktails between each course – we were never quite sure if they thought that is how Americans do it, or if it was a promotion put on by Jack Daniels. Moving on to Amsterdam was in the ether, but not too serious an issue; and the more serious issue of the Pandemic was not on anyone’s radar. Holy cow!
But Thanksgiving in Amsterdam during the pandemic is where we are, what we did. Have I mentioned the small kitchen in this apartment? It was built for takeout. The fridge/freezer is about the size of the right-hand side of a side-by-side in the US, so it holds about two days’ worth of fresh foods. We have a four-burner cooktop and a combination oven + microwave oven – that is it. Pretty hard to find the makings of a Thanksgiving dinner to begin with and then very hard to make it into a good dinner cooking one thing at a time in the combi-oven. So, take-out for Thanksgiving was truly the only option.
One restaurant offered Thanksgiving take-out two weeks before the date. (Another added a smaller version the week before). So, we went with the first place, Carter Restaurant. https://barcarter.nl/ A beautiful restaurant in the Oud Zuid (Old South) neighbourhood of Amsterdam. https://www.iamsterdam.com/en/about-amsterdam/amsterdam-neighbourhoods/oud-zuid A lovely dinner menu and this one came with cocktails too. All in two giant bags to carry home a complete feast.
Yes, you may note; we got two packages of white mashed potatoes and no sweet potatoes – but, the turkey was great, so all good.
It would not be Thanksgiving without Black Friday sales. Although, since Thanksgiving is not a holiday here, no one is off work, (except, Andy took vacation days) and most sales are minor promotions of a few percent’s off at most stores. Nonetheless, they advertise Black Friday and Andy needed a wireless keyboard, so off to the sale at the Best Buy equivalent we went.
They were ready for the Black Friday crowds, there were no crowds. We had the place to ourselves with the exception of one other person looking at TV’s.
And, of course, Thanksgiving kicks off holiday decorating. Netherlands celebrates Christmas and SinterKlaas. SinterKlaas is first, with his arrival by horse on the first Saturday after November 11th. Primarily a children’s holiday and festival, Sinterklass returns to Spain on December 6th, the name day of St. Nicholas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas While the seasons give us diminishing sunlight, the holidays of November and December give rise to beautiful street and canal decorations starting late October. We are isolated like much of the world, but when we step outside, our part of the world is beautiful, and we are grateful for this too.
We don’t really care for Texas. It is a big state with too much desert and too much concrete; yet it is where Aj lives. So, we go to Texas.
We arrived on a cold (50 degrees) and cloudy day – temperature-wise, still better than the 20-degree temps we left in Pelican Rapids. And, while it never got hot while we were there, the weather brought sunshine and warmer temperatures every day, a nice break from both Minnesota and the Netherlands in fall.
First day in Dallas (view from hotel window)
Last day in Dallas (view from Arboretum)
Continuing to practice our ‘together apart’ strategy, we were able to do a few things with Aj and Aaron in the Dallas area. A few times, they simply brought us their favourite take-out foods and then we used a couple tables in the hotel lobby to chat and eat together, apart. Even after several trips to Taqueria Escobar in Pelican Rapids (https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g43415-d4840148-Reviews-Taqueria_Escobar-Pelican_Rapids_Minnesota.html) we were still craving Mexican food. Aj literally delivered Torchy’s Tacos (www.Torchystacos.com ) Yummy! He also introduced us to Cris and Johns Vietnamese Street Food which has a twist of Mexican. (https://www.crisandjohn.com/) Also yummy!
Other food and drink related trips included an evening at the Cider Cade (https://www.cidercade.com/home) which combines all-you-can-play arcade games with in-house cider, wine, and kombucha. This is a large warehouse-type facility as half of it is used for the production of their drinks. The other half is an unbelievable amount of games; including Star Wars Pod Racing, old style pinballs and early electronics like Centipede and Galaga.
Aaron and Andy Pod Race
Andy points out his total points on leader board
Another night we went to the self-described Come as You Are Beer Garden and Adult Playground; The Truckyard at the Colony. (https://truckyardthecolony.com/) This is a Texas-sized mostly outdoor venue with a Toilet Seat Museum (https://truckyardthecolony.com/museum), live music, drinks, food, tables, chairs, and fire pits. A perfect spot to stay socially distanced while enjoying cheese steak sandwiches and adult beverages.
Aj, Aaron, and Parker (the dog)
Of course, we did more than eat; but we did also eat some darn good bar-b-que (some say the best in Texas) at the Pecan Lodge (https://pecanlodge.com/ ) in the Deep Ellum area. We were on our way to visit the Bishop Arts District (https://www.bishopartsdistrict.com/) where Aj has designed a whole apartment block, incorporating an existing building. The complex is in its final stages of construction with apartments now leasing. (http://www.liveatmagnolia.com/homes/tx/bishop-arts/bishop-highline/)
Bishop Arts District
Complex construction
Now leasing …
Aj and I walked the dog, Parker, at Celestial Park; a lovely neighbourhood park not far from where Aj and Aaron live. (https://addisontexas.net/parksrec/celestial-park) A few days later, we added Andy to the dog walk, continuing from Celestial park on the trail around White Rock Creek. A different time we all met at Addison Circle Park. (https://addisontexas.net/parksrec/addison-circle-park) It was not supposed to include playing in the fountains, but a change of plans was called for when Parker rolled in another dog’s poo. For open air and exercise without the dog, we headed to White Rock Lake Park (https://whiterocklake.org/) with its nine mile long trail around the entire lake.
Wash the dog
at Addison Circle Park
Along Rock Creek
Along Rock Creek
Trail around White Rock Lake
Another spot on the trail around the lake
White Rock Lake
On our last afternoon we headed back to White Rock Lake, but this time stopped at the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. (https://www.dallasarboretum.org/)
Now you see us …
… Now you don’t. Masks were required
Andy waterfall hunting at Arboretum
I know, they have Shakespeare in the Park
Found another waterfall
Fountain photo by Andy taken at Arboretum
And, then we came back to Amsterdam again. Just in time, as the next day the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Rutte, announced that there should be no more travel abroad until mid-January. Holy cow, this may result in a lot of ‘book trail’ blog postings – I hope ya’ll are ready for that.
Good night Aaron and Aj and goodbye to Dallas, Texas
Since March we have felt something akin to being locked out of the house as a teenager; you could still do some things that you want, you could still even have fun; but, you still just really want to go inside that house. That is how I felt about the United States. We have had so much fun in both London and now Amsterdam, that cutting our time short here is not really an option – but we do miss people and places in the US. It was my understanding, that because the US border with the EU is closed, anyone who has been out of the US more than 14 days would be required to quarantine for 14 days upon entering the US. (Turns out, and please use your best Pirates of the Caribbean voice for this: these are just ‘guidelines’.) For folks without a home anymore, that just seemed like an awful lot of room service. But, on the other hand, an AirBnB would not require room service. Still 14 days of quarantine in the US and then 14 days upon returning to Amsterdam just seemed like more than I wanted to invest.
But as the pandemic wears on, it began to seem doable; in fact, seemed the only option that does not involve waiting years. My niece Lori said she would bring me dinner, and that sounded like a good deal. If I went to Minnesota, I could see my extended family there and follow the CDC “guidelines” in an AirBnB with a view of open space at off-season rates. Once the fourteen days were up, I’d be able to do some shopping (back to Macy’s for a new pair of black jeans) and then make my way to Dallas to see Aj – in person, not just FaceTime. Reservations were made, new face masks were purchased; I was on my way back to the USA. And then, Covid cases shot up in Amsterdam and Andy was back on full-time work from home – so why couldn’t he work from Minnesota? He could; make that reservations for two.
Visiting Pelican Rapids Minnesota is rarely exciting; lots of outdoor time and lots of catching up on family stories, including our first trip out to Lori and Kimo’s new lake property. And then, it snowed. Not too much, 5 – 7 inches, but it took all day and then the un-ploughed areas turned to ice. Beautiful.
A look up Main street (Broadway) of Pelican Rapids from south end looking north
A look up Main street (Broadway) of Pelican Rapids (after snow) north end, looking north
Sherin Park Pond and Bridge, in the middle of town
Same pond, same bridge + snow
World’s largest pelican
World’s largest pelican + snow
Sunset at Lori and Kimo’s lake property
Sunset at Lori and Kimo’s from another angle
OAKS of Pelican Rapids Volunteers ready to hand out drive through lunch. Lori let me help too. Link here for more information: http://oaks.lahnetwork.org/
We did not feel threatened by air travel. There are not yet so many people traveling, especially from Amsterdam to the US, that you cannot maintain a good distance at the airport and our part of the plane was only about 25% full. At the airport we rented a car, keeping to ourselves; only stopping when the highway was closed for an accident. We did hug family, but then we all backed up six feet. We have gone places together – only apart, in our own cars. It was not like the ‘good ole days’, but we are old enough to know that nostalgia is a fantasy – these are the ‘good ole days’ now. We talked, we walked; we ate, we laughed; we had a great time with the Minnesota contingent of family, ending our stay with a socially distanced dinner held in the church’s social hall – and then we left that bit of family, and the snow, to visit Aj and Aaron in much warmer Dallas, Texas.
Andy outside Lori’s house (not at lake)
Art space at Fargo mall, close to Macy’s – Insanity is good, North Dakota should know.
Trees in the snow in my sister’s backyard
Socially distanced family dinner table set up.
Outside the church during family dinner in social hall. Good bye Minnesota
Selected at the “Books set in Amsterdam” section of Waterstone’s Books on the Kalverstraat, this book has its characters visit many of Amsterdam’s main tourist sights. Some you have seen in other Book Trail postings such as: Centraal Station, the Kalverstraat, and the Red-Light District. Some are new locations specific to the story of this book. Click this link for an interactive version of the map below: The Light of Amsterdam Book Locations
The book follows three sets of characters; a newly divorced father with his teenage son, a mother who is joining her twenty-something’s daughter’s ‘hen do’ before her wedding, and a couple taking a well-earned break after working hard at their own business for many years. During the story all visit various locations and occasionally interact with each other too.
We begin with Centraal Station. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam_Centraal_station) While all three groups travel to Amsterdam via plane from Belfast, the train station is nonetheless the geographic center of the story’s start.
It is The Bulldog Coffeeshop (https://www.thebulldog.com/) that is the first stop for the hen party with Karen, the single-parent-mother-of-the-bride in tow. The local chain has many locations, but from the story I assume they go to the one on the Leidesplein which is visible to Marion and Richard from their hotel.
Alan, the divorced dad, and his son Jack also begin their journey at Centraal Station. From there they are looking for food. Jack is not interested in any Amsterdam specialties; they find one of the many Burger Kings in the city and join the queue. (https://www.burgerking.nl/)
After eating their burgers, father and son reach their ‘mid-priced’ hotel in the Spui (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spui_(Amsterdam)). There are many hotels over the various restaurants and shops in the square; I do not have a guess which of them the father and son may have actually used, but I do have some pictures of the area. The Spui Square is also the home of the Boekenmarkt, a used book fair held every Friday for more than 30 years. https://www.deboekenmarktophetspui.nl/
The weekly book market is on this spot, in front of the American Book Center
Vondelpark (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vondelpark) figures heavily in all three of the intersecting stories. Known for its trees, paths, sculpture, and cafes; all characters make it to this, the largest of the many parks in the city, at some point.
Looking across the Museumplein from Reijksmuseum toward Van Gogh
Far side of Museumplein
Van Gogh
Closer look at Van Gogh
During their visit to the city, Alan and his teenage son, Jack, visit a large open market which has multiple sellers of used clothing. There are many open-air markets in the city, but I believe they visited the Waterlooplein Market (https://waterlooplein.amsterdam/en/historie/ ). Originally the Jewish Market, it is now known for the large selection of used clothing among other, mostly used, items.
Lastly, Alan’s teenage son declares that he would like to see the Red-Light district. https://www.amsterdam.info/red-light-district/ While uncomfortable with visiting the area on a Saturday night – the two make their way to the multiple blocks by the Oude Kerk where prostitution is legal and advertised by sex workers in canal house windows. Note that it is not just uncomfortable to take pictures of the workers in the windows, such picture taking is illegal. All my picture taking of this beautiful area are made during the day which reduces, but does not eliminate, the likely hood of running into the neighborhood’s residents plying their trade.
Windows have sex workers at night
A variation; alley-side glass doors with workers
At the end of our story all participants are back on the plane, back on their way to Belfast. All, of course, as in any good story, are changed in some way by their experiences in Amsterdam – the personal note here would be that it is probably changing us in some ways too.
A journey of a hundred miles, begins with a single step; and reservations with a good travel company. (paraphrase from Tao Te Ching)
I could fill this page with quotes and phrases to echo the times we are living in – but so could you. I’ll jump to the part where we said to each other: “We have to go somewhere; we need to see more of Europe. We need to be distracted.” But how? We are not trying to catch Corona or spread it to others; how do we make an adventure and be responsible citizens? We had talked for some time of taking a hiking holiday so we could see more of a place up close; specifically, Austria was the plan. But that did not work out. Working with a specialized travel agency we decided to go hiking in the Black Forest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Forest This is a hikers paradise. There are plenty of well-marked trails and you are never truly very far from a spot of civilization, yet never really in a crowded place either. We put our money down and hoped the pandemic would not interfere with our plans. (Yes, we have travel insurance 😊)
The plan: 1,000 sets of stairs worth of elevation change, 100 miles of circular and hotel-to-hotel hiking, 10 days, 4 hotels, and at least 2 waterfalls. We purchased new hiking pants and jackets (luckily never needed the jackets) and our first sets of hiking poles. Backpacks were inventoried; water bottles, snacks, masks, sanitizer, and handi-wipes. We were good to go.
Note, that we also took about a thousand pictures between us. They all look essentially the same, beautiful trees, miles of vistas, story-book houses and buildings, and shimmering water. This recap is just a smattering of our favorite pictures or locations.
Flying into Basel, Switzerland we were transferred to our first hotel in Feldberg-Falkau, the Hotel Peterle. We used the remainder of this first day, which was not pre-routed for us, to make our way to Lake Titisee. A beautiful, glacier-formed, but also fairly touristy (especially by the bus parking), lake in the Black Forest. https://www.black-forest-travel.com/landscape/titisee.html
Yes, I did just come down that trail. So glad we brought the hiking poles.
The next day’s planned walk was to Lake Schluchsee. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schluchsee As we followed the pre-planned trail though, we met a local who thought we might enjoy visiting the local brewery while we were out; so a quick change of route had us visit the Rothaus Brewery https://www.rothaus.de/ not too far from the lake.
Playground at brewery, all construction type – German Engineering starts young
There was no choice on where to walk the next day, it was time to head out for our next hotel in Alpersbach. https://www.outdooractive.com/en/route/hiking-route/schwarzwald/around-alpersbach-rund-um-alpersbach-/13294503/ This was an adventure of a walk, which turned out to be over 15 miles because a critical bridge we needed to cross had been removed. It took a bit of time, plus a bit of local apple tart, but we located a disused alternative and made it to Alpersbach while the sun was still shining.
Bridge?
We made it. View from hotel room, Alpersbach
From our Alperbach hotel we followed our planned route to and around The Ravenna Gorge. We are talking waterfalls here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravenna_Gorge A wonderful day of hiking that we would recommend to anyone.
Hiking trail and parcour course in the forest on way to Freiburg
I did not do the coaster – one of us had to try the local Black Forest Gateau (cake)
On the trail to Freiburg
First views of Freiburg, and the Munster, as we come down the mountain
Our last day was not hiking, it was more like wandering. We had directions for a self-guided tour of the town center which served as a basis to find the local landmarks. Major landmark is the Munster. https://www.freiburgermuenster.info/ A gothic cathedral whose initial construction dates back to the 1200’s. It is the towering feature of the town and anchor of the central square.
Goodnight and Goodbye Freiberg.
Did I mention the food on this trip? Our first six nights at the hotels included dinner. This was very helpful as we really did not want to look for food after walking ten or so miles; and as it turned out, the meals were great. The Black Forest is very close to France which has impacted the restaurants in the area. We could not have done better on our own. However, we did find a few meals on our own; we needed to try the local specialties.
Four course dinner on Saturdays
Five courses on Sundays – with the wine pairing
Alpersbach; end of the wine-paired dinner on first night
Spaetzle for lunch
Local trout
A pub in middle of the forest. Perfect stop between Kirchzarten and Freiberg
These are Bragel Wochen. Only Black Forest, only September
Last meal in Freiburg; meat salad and flamenkeuchen
We did it! We followed almost every hike the company had prepared for us – with just our own detour for the brewery and their detour for the missing bridge keeping us from being 100%. A hundred miles in ten days. We did the hiking, the eating, the drinking, and the marveling at the scenery the travel company had promised. And we would do it again.
To end this post with another quote, this one attributed to J.R.R. Tolkien:
“Little by little, one travels far”
Andy and Linda Benjamin, waterfall hunters, Black Forest Germany, 2020
The Pilgrims were in the Netherlands; for 11 years
We had never heard of Leiden until Aj said we had to go there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leiden This is a township of about 150,000 people with suburbs adding another 50,000. It is about 30 miles south of central Amsterdam. Aj did not know about the town’s Pilgrim history, he was recommending a museum that happened to have an exhibit on Pilgrims, the Lakenhal. https://www.lakenhal.nl/en A two-night hotel room, with air conditioning, was secured. Next weekend, off on the train we went.
So, the first thing I wanted to know was, what is the connection between Leiden and the Pilgrims? Doing my own research, I learned that wanting to escape religious prosecution and persecution, about 300 Puritans initially came to the Netherlands which was more religiously tolerant than other countries at the time. Some never left, but about a third were in Leiden about 11 years. They feared assimilation, particularly of the young folk and decided to head for open land, where outside influence on the community would be minimal; they went to the new world. https://www.visitleiden.nl/en/discover-leiden/specials/pilgrim/the-pilgrim-story
We began our Leiden visit at the American Pilgrim Museum. http://www.leidenamericanpilgrimmuseum.org/index.htm Amazing. This is not a large ‘home’ so under current rules only four people are allowed at one time, plus the docent. Our timeslot had only one other person, a local who is fluent in languages of the middle ages. (amazing, yes) The docent showed us actual bibles used at the time of the pilgrims, including an original copy of The Geneva Bible https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Bible; our fellow visitor could read it. Such a treat to see and understand up close these pivotal items from four hundred years ago. They do not know for sure if actual members of the Mayflower party lived in this particular house, but they do know they lived on this street. Through happenstance the house has been preserved, without physical renovations all four hundred years; now updated with period collectibles such as the books and bibles, stoneware and metalwork. The docent may have been the most knowledgeable museum presenter I have ever encountered. Her goal is to answer all visitor questions, regardless of what those might be. More amazing.
Whew, our brains were full after that! Looking for air and the Burcht Castle remains which should not be too far, we set off. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burcht_van_Leiden It is a small park, surrounded by buildings, but in the middle are the Castle keep remains. There is not a lot to see and the center is dominated by a huge tree (very welcome on a hot day), but you can climb up to walk the perimeter of the walls to look at the town from all directions. Posted signs explain the buildings in each view.
Crossing town, we headed for our appointment at the Rijksmuseum of Antiquities https://www.rmo.nl/ – a top-ten item on the list of things to do in Leiden and quite the treasure trove of Egyptian, Roman, and Greek art. It was a surprising find of significant collections of sculpture, pottery, and mummies.
Completed our day by having dinner on the canal and then playing tourists on a sunset canal cruise.
Sunday morning brought another meal on the canals of Leiden. It is the prettiest of the cities we have seen in the Netherlands, and we just could not be outside enough.
Then off to the botanical gardens. They too are celebrating the 400th anniversary of the pilgrims. Special boards explained to us the food and plants taken on the crossing, food and plants they found upon arrival, and the food and plants they cultivated as they settled in. We were reminded that the pilgrims that survived that first winter, did so because they raided the local tribe’s food stash. Not because they were self-sufficient upon arriving.
Finally, it was time to visit the Lakenhal, the museum, and subsequently the Pilgrims to America exhibit, that drew us here in the first place. https://www.lakenhal.nl/en/story/pilgrims-to-americahttps://youtu.be/vsbM3VeOc4A We found the exhibit fascinating, insightful, and very well put together. Seeing the US through a different lens is a big part of why we like being in Europe. And, to Aj’s point, the building is quite interesting – having recently completed a major renovation. https://www.lakenhal.nl/en/story/the-building You just don’t get to see buildings with so much history in America.
Looking for dinner, again on the canal, we stopped at the Waag (The Weigh House), https://waagleiden.nl/ (Note from above, this is where the Pilgrims actually landed in Leiden) This YouTube video https://youtu.be/rhn9lbtzbPc is in Dutch and is focused on the history of the Waag; but the first part is also a beautiful overview of the town of Leiden and makes good use of graphics so much is still understandable. At the 2:07 mark in the video the Opa (grandfather) points to a large stone embedded in the street. They are the medieval markers which set off boundaries at the time. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/leiden-stones How cool is that?
After Waagíng, we felt we had done enough for one weekend, it was time to go back to the train, back to Amsterdam. As we walked around the town, and back to the train, we noted a unique outside decoration; some of the buildings have poetry. Words are so important. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_poems_in_Leiden
Not sure when, but we do hope to come back to Leiden; maybe for Thanksgiving as that feels appropriate.
Another reason we need Aj to help us find things to do
In discussing things to do and places to go around Amsterdam, Aj mentioned that we had to go to the Lakenhal Museum in Leiden, Netherlands; a great building. He suggested we go soon while they still had their special exhibit on the Pilgrims. What? I learned in grade school that the Puritans left England for the New World. They didn’t go to the Netherlands, they went to America. We even ate at the Mayflower Pub https://www.mayflowerpub.co.uk/ in London which is very proud of their small part in the Mayflower story of having been the location the Pilgrims left from.
As the temperature hit 90 degrees here; here where it is never this hot, so there is no air conditioning, it seemed like a good idea to sleep a few nights in an air-conditioned hotel room. The overnight to Utrecht went well, we would double down for two nights. We would stop in Leiden on our way to The Hague which is one of the cities we ‘must’ see while in the Netherlands. But, as I looked at things to do in Leiden in addition to the Lakenhal Museum, there was easily a weekend’s worth of amusements – ah, but there were no open hotel rooms.
So, instead we spent the whole weekend in The Hague. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hague There is easily enough to do there for a weekend too. The Hague is known for its place in world affairs via the Peace Palace and the Court of Justice. It isn’t known for canals, it isn’t known for being cute, it isn’t known for food or shopping; but it does have some of all those things. We arrived Friday night via the train from Amsterdam Centraal. To guarantee a place with air conditioning, I selected a room in the tallest building; the 30th floor of The Penthouse at the Hague Tower which is adjacent to one of the three train stations within the central city. Ahh, nice and cool with a view of the city.
Den Haag = The Hague
View of The Hague from 30 floors up
Close to The Hague’s Chinatown
It was from the Penthouse that we walked to the Mauritshuis (Museum of Dutch Golden Age paintings) https://www.mauritshuis.nl/nl-nl/ for our early afternoon admission appointment. We passed the Binnenhof, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binnenhof, the parliament building, on our way to the Mauritshuis; but no tours are offered during the Covid restrictions. A couple things of note re: Mauritshuis; there are Rembrandts, Vermeers, and Hals works of art in this museum – the original Girl with a Pearl Earring is here. Secondly, it is almost completely without revision from the original house which became the museum; a huge, beautiful palace. A cloakroom and ticket counter have been added at the base. And, it is named for the owner of the house (huis), Johan Maurits. An accomplished business man of the golden age, the museum was his personal house; but it is noted that his wealth was based on the use of slaves on his Brazilian sugar plantation, diminishing his accomplishments in art, science, and government. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Maurice,_Prince_of_Nassau-Siegen
The man
The explanation
The house (museum)
View of Delft, by Vermeer. The most famous cityscape of the Golden Age
Next we walked around the building and over to the Escher in Het Paleis – graphic arts https://www.escherinhetpaleis.nl/ A learning experience for me. I thought all Escher did was pictures of staircases that morphed into each other; setting up the future design of Hogwarts dormitories. But he did more. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._C._Escher
After our cultural experiences of the day, it was time to relax. The restaurant at the top of our building, on the 42nd floor, had just reopened so I booked us a table with a window view. Normally, during the new normal Covid times, we do not eat at indoor restaurants, but this was very social distancing friendly. We had a whole section to ourselves with the restaurant at about 25% capacity: probably bad for them, great for us.
Next day, it was a hike over to the Kunstmuseum Modern and Contemporary art (Largest collection of Mondrian Art. Lots of Delftware. All in an interesting building from the 1930’s.) https://www.kunstmuseum.nl/en?q=www.hubeiymcd.cn A full couple hours of modern art, plus more Delftware.
Reitveld-Schroeder house model. The house we toured in Utrecht. Reitveld was a Mondrian Art movement member
On to the Peace Palace Center of Justice funded by Andrew Carnegie. https://www.vredespaleis.nl/ I was really looking forward to this tour, as this is what I think of when I think of The Hague, the Center of Justice. It was more crowded than we have become used to, it was hard to maintain distances with other visitors – annoying. They have an audio tour which accompanies large multimedia presentations on the walls – interesting, but not energizing and slow, slow pokey walking. After half an hour we were ready to see the rest of it; only to learn that that was it. You never get to go in the building. The only actual tours are of the gardens and they are quite limited. We got to see a movie, but I wanted to be in the room where it happened. That didn’t happen.
It was now late Sunday afternoon, so on we go, back through town, generally heading toward the train station. It was still hot, but not bad in the shade. We turned a corner, staying on the shady side, when we thought we heard live music. That can’t be – no live music during a pandemic, but as we walked closer, we saw exactly what was happening. A barge full of musicians had moored up to a canal-side restaurant. People were still spaced and separated by plexiglass, and the music could be heard for blocks along the water. We took up a spot on the canal and were able to have a nice adult beverage as the Sunday afternoon jazz played on. And then they upped anchor and went to the next restaurant.
We tried to follow them, but boats are faster than feet, especially since we still needed to pay our bill; we watched them finish their last song at the next location. As they left, the crowd on the canal-side restaurant also left, so we sat down for a quiet dinner on the canal. With that, we felt that we had ‘done The Hague’ and it was time to head back to the train station, back to Amsterdam, back to the un-air-conditioned apartment.
What about Leiden? We had to put that off for a week and will put off writing about it until blog 46.
