Blogs from Leiden, South Holland, Netherlands, Europe - page 2

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

Leiden, NL We've traveled a bit since our last blog. Our stay (2nights) in Boven-Leeuwen was super nice. Christa & Mark ran a great campground and the last night we were able to use their grill to cook steak, used their micowave for baked potatoes and had a salad. I wish that we could have all those amenities at each campground! Upon leaving, Christa gave us a small jar of homemade strawberry jam. Best campground this trip. The next campground faded by comparison. On the way there we met a gal from the states who had been living in Europe since the 90's. She had lived in France, Germany and the Netherlands. She was telling us it costs about $2000 to get a drivers license in NL. She is teaching school here. You never know who ... read more

It’s been almost five years since I stepped out of North America and moved to China. With every destination I attempt to recruit visitors from home, partially for the company and familiarly of friends and family, and partially in my selfish attempt to pull people out of their comfort zone and experience something unknown. I say it’s a selfish attempt because for me personally travel has taught me an intangible amount about myself, others and the ways of this world. More than anything I thrive on learning – in any form that may take. I love having visitors because it’s a way to give them a tangible example of why I love experiencing life as an expat, and an opportunity to see how travel can be an amazing teacher and to learn from it. On a ... read more

Everwhere there's history.... read more