After visiting the botanic garden my TB friend guided me walking to her final destination. I made a stop to shoot an old Ford Edsel named after Henry Ford's son. The Edsel was in production for only two years and was a financial disaster for Ford. Now an Edsel in good shape is very valuable. We went on to Panorama Mesdag and I was surprised to see how wonderful this place was. Inside on the second floor was a very large painting with a circular 360 degree view of the sea, beaches, and the Village of Scheveningen from the mid 1880s. This spectacular painting was done by Hendrik Willem Mesdag (and others) in 1880 and opened to the public in 1881. The view was realistic and made me feel like I was looking from a large ... read more

I took a short train ride to Den Haag Centraal, then a tram to my hotel. After checking in to the hotel I quickly started my walking tour of this historic city. I went by some charming old row buildings on my way to the Paleistuin (Royal Garden). This nice garden with its beautiful trees was established around 1600 AD; and was open free to the public during the daylight hours. I lucked out and there was good live entertainment there. With the music at my back I strolled around checking out their large trees. This was a great place to relax to nature, in a nice city. (Every evening after my days tours in The Hague, I would come here to the Paleistuin to relax before my early bedtime.) There was a good view of ... read more

I departed from my hotel and walked by an Australian pub with a noisy crowd. I found out that Australia was playing football against Netherlands. I walked on and passed the Leiden East Gate, and what looked like a walk through Post Office. I was walking following a nice canal and saw the Leiden Markt in the distance. I found this open air market had a good selection of fresh foods. (I can not remember what I bought at the market.) I made a visit to the University Leiden library and used their internet to contact TB friends in other Netherlands Cities where I was to visit soon. completed... read more

I departed from the Rembrandt Hotel and walked to the nearby De Valk windmill Museum. I paid the four Euro entry fee and entered this great windmill; as impressive as the windmills I seen in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The bottom floor was the living quarters for the operators of the windmill. There was many artifacts there from those living there long ago. The next three floors had many old windmill artifacts made of wood and stone. I think it was the fourth floor where I saw the shoot where the flour was received and bagged up for sale, from the above grinding of grain with heavy mill stones powered by the wind. I was most impressed with the fifth level with its large outside platform with its great 360 degree view of Leiden. I enjoyed this ... read more

A nice Dutch lady was a TB friend, and she met me outside the Rembrandt Hotel to guide me on a walking tour of beautiful Leiden. (Dutch hospitality is alive and well in Leiden.) We walked by what she told me was an old jail-prison. We walked through Leiden and arrived at the impressive Pieterskerk. (Somehow I lost my pics of the inside of this fine old church.) According to Wikipedia construction of this large structure started in 1390 AD and continued for about 180 years. This church had much bad luck including on March 1512 the 110 meter high Westtoren (West Tower) collapsed and was never rebuilt. In about 1566 the Beeldenstorm (fanatical religious nut-jobs that vandalized church stained glass windows, paintings and statues throughout Western Europe) damaged much in this fine old church. Later ... read more