Day 10 (part 2): Leiden
Our train arrived in Rotterdam, and we had intended on exploring that area, however the train was delayed, then detoured and so we got in later than expected, so we just took another train to our next destination of Leiden, Holland.
We are staying in a 100 year old home that belongs to a retired Dutch woman, who takes in people to make her home a bed and breakfast. She helped us get settled, then we walked to Old Town for some dinner.
Most European homes have steep, narrow staircases. These are the stairs leading up to our room.
The neighborhood of our BnB
View from our window
Our home for the next few days.
The windmill right down the street
Stan enjoying the rather warm and humid evening for dinner
We ended up stopping at an Italian place simply because of the view of the canal. Here we had pizza and arancini
One of the canals in Leiden
Another canal
Day 11: Amsterdam
We got up early and took the intercity train to Amsterdam, about a 35 minute train ride north. Unfortunately, when we got there, neither one of us had cell phone service, so we were without a map. We had no idea where to go. So, we decided to get a coffee and something to eat and then figure it out.
With no cell service, we just walked and we came across a building that I recognized from all of my research. We took a chance and it was where we needed to be since we had 9:30 reservations at the Rijksmuseum. This museum is the national museum of the Netherlands and showcases Dutch art. We rented headphones which told about pieces of art and the artist. What an interesting place to visit and I would highly recommend it if you are in Amsterdam.
TheRijksmuseum
The outside of the museum is beautiful
When you first walk in, there is a grand entryway with walls of stained glass depicting famous Dutch people.
Inside the entryway
Delft pots
This painting is called “The Floating Feather” I loved this one and all of the details in it.
Mary, Queen of Scots loved Delft pottery
A typical Delft vase. This was commissioned for Mary Stuart
I added this photo because it was the portrait of brothers Joan and Cornelius De Wit
This dollhouse is a typical dollhouse from the upper class in the 1600s. The detail is amazing and the materials were of the highest quality. These doll houses cost more than a regular house during the day.
This painting is Calle Militia Company of District VII under the Comman of Captain Rolf Bicker a painted byBartholomeus van dear Heist. It’s a huge painting in the museum
Rembrandt’s The Night Watch was being restored while we were there
Rembrandt’s The Jewish Bride
Rmbrandt’s Self Portrait as the Apostle Paul
Rembrandt’s Still Life with Peacocks. I really liked this one because of the detail and lighting
This is one of my favorites and I’m not sure why. It’s called The Threatend Swan by Jan Asselijn
Still Life with Flowers in a Glass Vase by Rachel Ruysch. There were not many female artists in this time, but almost all of them painted still like with flowers.
The Love Letter by Johannesburg Vermeer
The Milkmaid by Vermeer. This is another one with amazing detail it you look past the milkmaid and look in the background.
Portrait of a Girl Dressed in Blue by Johannesburg Cornelius Verspronck
Still Life with a Gilt Cup by Willemien Claesz Heda
After a couple of hours at the museum, we set out to explore Amsterdam. Our phones were still not getting reception, so we blindly walked around the city.
I didn’t notice this initially, but found out later that Dutch houses are narrow (typically 3 windows wide)because they used to be taxed based on the width of the house, so they were built narrow to have less tax. And the windows at the bottom are tallied than the middle, and they are smaller at the top for perspective to make the houses look bigger.
My phone finally started working, so we made our way to a big open market called Albert Kuyp market. It really wasn’t that interesting, except that I did get my fresh stroopwafel.
We jut walked around the city for awhile
Amsterdam Centraal (train station) is beautiful
It was very warm and we had a coupe of hours before our canal tour, so we stopped for a beer in the shade at the oldest bar in Amsterdam, across from the train station.
We took a tour of the canals in Amsterdam. Here are a few photos that I took:
We have been navigating public transportation surprisingly well this trip, but we had a difficult time with the train home. They had canceled our train that we had tickets for and we struggled to figure out what train we were supposed to get on instead because all of the announcements were in Dutch. But we eventually figured it out, it wasn’t pretty because not only was it rush hour, but also everyone from the canceled train was there and we were packed into the train like Sardines. But we made it back to Leiden. We grabbed a bite to eat before going home. We decided to try Dutch Pancakes
Stan had the pancake with honey
I tried the poffertjes. I didn’t want something sweet, so mine had cheese, pesto and tomatoes. It was OK, but I wouldn’t order it again.
Day 11: Leiden
When I was planning this trip, I looked at Amsterdam as a place to stay, but it was rather expensive for what you got, and I don’t like big cities. I discovered the city of Leiden. It’s about a 20-30 minute train ride to Amsterdam, so the location is good. It’s a university town, and a safe place.
I really like it in Leiden. The people are friendly. I’s funny because in Switzerland, everyone spoke to us in English. Here, they speak to us in Dutch, not assuming we are American. But when I ask if they speak English, just about everyone does, and very fluently. There is a cute windmill at the entrance to Old Town. The same type of canals that you can find in Amsterdam. And, there aren’t the hoards of people.
We were tired from Amsterdam the day before (and the two weeks of traveling), so we decided to take a day off. We slept in, our host made us a wonderful breakfast, and we just walked around the town. We went home for a nap, and then headed back over to the city center to do some laundry and to have dinner.
We topped by a salad place fro one of the best, freshest salads I have ever had. We ate out by the water.
This door was right across from us while we picnicked. I love the detail. This building was build in 1644.
We enjoyed the cold afternoon with some hot coffee and carrot cake, which is offered everywhere here.
We happened to be in Leiden on the weekend of their summer festival. It started off with a parade of boats. There were so many of them, all decorated and the people lined the canals to watch it. We found a great spot on the bridge and enjoyed it as well.
We got up early and headed back to Amsterdam, as we had reservations for a bike tour of the Dutch countryside. It was an 18 mile beautiful ride. Of course, being in the Netherlands, it was basically flat, but the scenery was out of a picture book. It was hard to take too many photos since I as riding and afraid I was going to drop my phone. Here are some photos from our stops:
The cute village north of Amsterdam
Dutch countryside
Kaasstengel - Dutch cheese sticks. So good!
Bitterballen - Fried balls of gravy and meat.
The little pub we stopped at for a snack.
The bike thing is real in the Netherlands. They are everywhere and it can be difficult to walk. Here is part of a parking lot for the bikes. Thousands of bikes, and that is just Leiden.
We were lucky enough to get a table with a great view on our last night.
Tomorrow we are headed back to the airport first thing in the morning. I will definitely miss the Netherlands. It’s been one of my favorite things so far on this trip.
My thoughts on the Netherlands:
- Transportation is ok. The public transportation is expensive and not as efficient as Switzerland, but we managed to get around without too many difficulties.
- There is a wide range of food in the Netherlands. Funny thing is, we didn’t eat much Dutch food. We had Italian, Japanese, and Indonesian.
-Leiden is such a neat city and I want to come back. It’s walkable and friendly. You can see all that Amsterdam has without the crowds
- The countryside north of Amsterdam looks like a storybook. We saw lambs lying in the shade, cows and horses grazing nearby, and picturesque houses. I’d love to stay there.
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