Leiden, Weekend 1 (Days 4 and 5)
I wanted to try hard to keep this blog from becoming a "Today I did this, then I did that, then I saw this, and my life is so much cooler than yours because I'm in Europe basically for free and you're not." But I have a feeling I am going to fail in my attempts to prevent that from happening, especially since I am now going to tell you what I did this weekend.
I actually spent most of Saturday at work, but I did go go into the center of town for lunch and then again for dinner. [Side Note - if that statement confuses you, remember, I'm not on vacation. I, along with all the other participants in this workshop/conference, have offices to work in. And we are expected to work, one of the main goals of this thing is to bring the entire research group together to get work done that would be hard to get done while we're all at our various institutions and not together in one place. So while I will do my fair share of playing tourist, I'll be working most of the time I'm here. Not that I'm complaning, don't get me wrong. Not at all. But I just wanted to set the record straight.]
Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, Leiden. I went into town for lunch and dinner on Saturday, and what I saw was nice, but I didn't see that much. Today was my real exploration - I spent most of the day aimlessly wandering around the streets of Leiden, enjoying the unusually warm and sunny weather (by unusually warm, I mean that it was almost 80, still a wonderful break from Austin weather).
Leiden really is exactly what you would picture the perfect little European city to look like. Narrow, crowded streets with small, one and two story buildings crammed together. Cars, bikes, and pedestrians flowing through streets in a jumbled mess that might make sense to the locals but looks like a free-for-all to me. And, since this is Holland, of course there are random windmills scattered about here and there. And canals - lots of narrow canals randomly wandering through the city.
The one thing that struck me over and over was that you just never know what you'll find next. One minute I'm wandering down this narrow alley and suddenly I turn the corner and there's ... A HILL! Then you read the sign and see that it's man-made, but still, a hill! In Holland! Atop the hill sits a "castle" (the locals call it a castle, but it's more like a small circular thing made out of stone). You can climb up it and walk around the edge to get a nice overlook of the city, which I did. It was nice.
I also randomly stumbled on an outdoor street market. It hit home just how much of a non-tourist city this was when I saw that all the vendors were selling household items (there was a guy selling silverware) as opposed to tourist trinkets that you buy just to put on a shelf and look at. I actually kind of like that - I feel like I'm seeing a real slice of Europe, not a tourism-ized one. Just a short walk from the market was my favorite surprise of the day - a Mini Cooper competition! There were dozens, if not hundreds, of mini-coopers lined up along the sides of the street. I assume it was some sort of competition because a few had ribbons attached to them with people standing next to them with proud looks on their faces. But I'm only assuming, because I have no idea what any of the signs said or what anybody was saying. Some might find it daunting wandering around (and sometimes getting lost) in a place where you can't speak the language - I find it to add to the fun. And, of course, everybody hear knows English. So if I really got into trouble I could just ask and I'd find somebody who spoke English in about 5 seconds.
Overall it was a really nice day. I split my time equally between aimlessly wandering around, sitting in outdoor cafes people-watching, and lounging around in the shade surrounding the "castle" and reading for awhile. And I still haven't seen all of the center of the town yet, I just couldn't do anymore today because I was too tired. And we're also only about a half hour bike ride away from the North Sea, so I'll probably try and get there at some point. Plus, I can't spend three and a half weeks in the Netherlands and not visit Amsterdam, so I'll have to take a day trip there at some point. And wasn't I the one going on about how much work I'm supposed to get done while I'm here?
Anyway, to end this thing, here are a few random pictures taken around Leiden. I took quite a few more than these, but I don't feel like uploading too many of them.
I actually spent most of Saturday at work, but I did go go into the center of town for lunch and then again for dinner. [Side Note - if that statement confuses you, remember, I'm not on vacation. I, along with all the other participants in this workshop/conference, have offices to work in. And we are expected to work, one of the main goals of this thing is to bring the entire research group together to get work done that would be hard to get done while we're all at our various institutions and not together in one place. So while I will do my fair share of playing tourist, I'll be working most of the time I'm here. Not that I'm complaning, don't get me wrong. Not at all. But I just wanted to set the record straight.]
Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, Leiden. I went into town for lunch and dinner on Saturday, and what I saw was nice, but I didn't see that much. Today was my real exploration - I spent most of the day aimlessly wandering around the streets of Leiden, enjoying the unusually warm and sunny weather (by unusually warm, I mean that it was almost 80, still a wonderful break from Austin weather).
Leiden really is exactly what you would picture the perfect little European city to look like. Narrow, crowded streets with small, one and two story buildings crammed together. Cars, bikes, and pedestrians flowing through streets in a jumbled mess that might make sense to the locals but looks like a free-for-all to me. And, since this is Holland, of course there are random windmills scattered about here and there. And canals - lots of narrow canals randomly wandering through the city.
The one thing that struck me over and over was that you just never know what you'll find next. One minute I'm wandering down this narrow alley and suddenly I turn the corner and there's ... A HILL! Then you read the sign and see that it's man-made, but still, a hill! In Holland! Atop the hill sits a "castle" (the locals call it a castle, but it's more like a small circular thing made out of stone). You can climb up it and walk around the edge to get a nice overlook of the city, which I did. It was nice.
I also randomly stumbled on an outdoor street market. It hit home just how much of a non-tourist city this was when I saw that all the vendors were selling household items (there was a guy selling silverware) as opposed to tourist trinkets that you buy just to put on a shelf and look at. I actually kind of like that - I feel like I'm seeing a real slice of Europe, not a tourism-ized one. Just a short walk from the market was my favorite surprise of the day - a Mini Cooper competition! There were dozens, if not hundreds, of mini-coopers lined up along the sides of the street. I assume it was some sort of competition because a few had ribbons attached to them with people standing next to them with proud looks on their faces. But I'm only assuming, because I have no idea what any of the signs said or what anybody was saying. Some might find it daunting wandering around (and sometimes getting lost) in a place where you can't speak the language - I find it to add to the fun. And, of course, everybody hear knows English. So if I really got into trouble I could just ask and I'd find somebody who spoke English in about 5 seconds.
Overall it was a really nice day. I split my time equally between aimlessly wandering around, sitting in outdoor cafes people-watching, and lounging around in the shade surrounding the "castle" and reading for awhile. And I still haven't seen all of the center of the town yet, I just couldn't do anymore today because I was too tired. And we're also only about a half hour bike ride away from the North Sea, so I'll probably try and get there at some point. Plus, I can't spend three and a half weeks in the Netherlands and not visit Amsterdam, so I'll have to take a day trip there at some point. And wasn't I the one going on about how much work I'm supposed to get done while I'm here?
Anyway, to end this thing, here are a few random pictures taken around Leiden. I took quite a few more than these, but I don't feel like uploading too many of them.
posted by Mike at 11:58 AM
1 Comments:
your pictures are great; the weather looks favorable; hope you are enjoying yourself; don't forget a spoon for you know who!
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