The Year of Rembrandt

This year is the 400th anniversary of the birth of Rembrandt right here in Leiden and there are celebrations and exhibits all year long. There's even Rembrandt Euros that are legal tender only in Leiden through 2006. We're pictured here at the Rembrandt Ice Sculpture Festival, which was very spectacular. Much of the show featured his paintings depicted in crystal clear ice and/or snow. This particular sculpture was the street in Leiden where Rembrandt was born. His home is no longer standing, but the Latin School where he studied is still there. This also shows how we're bundled up on a daily basis since we spend a lot of time walking outside to train and tram stations.

Location, Location, Location...

There's no doubt that it was this view from all floors of our home that made us choose to live in the city of Leiden despite the longer commute to school and work than anticipated. While much of Leiden is quite historic, we live in the newer part of the city (our home was built in 1935 rather than 1735).

Does Size Really Matter?

There's one word that quickly comes to mind when seeing the typical Dutch house--small. Historically, land was heavily taxed, so the Dutch built their homes narrow and tall. Rents are quite high here, so our options were limited. Luckily, we've discovered that we can live in a smaller space as long as we still have a basement to hide our crap. We're very fortunate because our living room is rather large since the owners added a lovely dining room opening up to the backyard. This picture is of our galley kitchen, with only the end of the counter with the frig under it not shown. Yes, our family of 4 is surviving with just a mini-frig and a separate mini-freezer in the basement; we're lucky to have a pantry in the basement that stays cool and makes for an excellent wine cellar. We've also learned to share a bathroom. The girls have a playroom on the 3rd floor, which really helps to keep my sanity. 

Going Dutch on New Year's

This photo from our backyard doesn't come close to capturing what a spectacle New Year's Eve is here. All day we heard firecrackers going off non-stop all around us. We had the Coates family, also newly arrived Americans, over for dinner and at midnight went outside to do some sparklers and champagne. We were surprised when the firecrackers stopped and large fireworks were shot off from all directions. We'd never seen anything like it. The most amazing thing was that these fireworks were the size we usually see at city-sponsored shows, but were just shot off by average folks here. The main show lasted about 30 minutes, but didn't completely die down until about 1:30am. What an interesting and loud way to start the new year.

Our Home

Here's our cute little home. It's a typical Dutch house--basically a tall and skinny townhouse. It was originally built in 1935, but there's a plaque in the front that says it was bombed in Feb 1945 and rebuilt in Nov 1945. We love the character and the large basement, but mostly we love the location.