Don’t Forget to Duck...

We had a great dinner on our favorite outdoor terrace at De Grote Beer (which means the big bear not the big beer).

When a small tour boat pulled up to the restaurant, Jimmy asked the captain if he’d be willing to give us a lift near the train station. What a pleasant surprise when he said that he was just cruising with his family and he’d be happy to take us. Rather than a 10-minute ride, we ended up cruising around the canals of Leiden for an hour. What an awesome ending to a great day!

Exploring Leiden...

The glorious weather, which arrived just in time for our visitors, continued for our day in Leiden. After lunch, we cycled into town to meet Dan and Nancy at the train station. We started with a visit to the De Valk Windmill Museum, then walked through the farmer’s market and to the De Burcht (a 11th century keep) for a beer.

While we were pointing out the oldest building in Leiden, which houses the American Pilgrim Museum, curator Dr. Jeremy Bangs opened the door. I’d been meaning to drop off a donation for some time, so this was the perfect opportunity. Dr. Bangs was especially proud of his latest acquisition: a church banner dating to before the Protestant reformation of the 16th century, which depicts an early version of the game rock, paper, scissors.

Underground Amsterdam...

Continuing on my nontraditional tour of Amsterdam, we went underground to see the progress of the north-south line of the Amsterdam Metro. Adding to the usual complications of digging a tunnel for a metro is that Amsterdam sits at just 7 feet above sea level. They are also building underground parking decks between the street level and metro.

It’s nice that the city is willing to open a construction site to the public. Unfortunately, this project is over 5 years behind schedule. It began in 2002 and should have been completed this summer; it’s now projected to be finished in 2017.

Beer and Art Restoration...

We met Nancy at the Heineken Experience for an afternoon of education about brewing beer. Of course, we had to drink a few beers to become fully educated.

We wandered through the passageway next to the Amsterdam Historical Museum and were lucky enough to see some art restorers in action. It would have been fun to see my friend Abbie working here, but her shift wasn’t until the following week.

Touring Amsterdam...

While Nancy was busy as the keynote speaker at her conference, Debby, Tim and I met up with Dan at Amsterdam Centraal. Our tour started with seeing this fantastic view from the top floor of the main library.

I managed to lead us astray, which resulted in us missing the main street of the Red Light District. Tim, however, noticed this child-friendly alley.

We eventually made our way to De Waag (the weigh house built in 1488) for lunch.

Spring Visitors...

Dinner in Leidschendam along the Vliet

Dipping Toes in the North Sea

For the last few years, Debby, my scrapbooking buddy from Cary, has hoped to visit. When her husband Tim turned 50, it was finally time for her to bring him to Europe for the first time. Ironically, they arrived on the same day as Nancy and Dan, good friends from San Diego, arrived for a conference. I had a busy morning meeting or I should say missing both of their flights. Debby and Tim stayed with us while Nancy and Dan stayed in a houseboat in Amsterdam.

A Day at the Amusement Park...

We all cycled to Drievliet, a small amusement park in Voorburg. For some of the girls, it was their first time on real thrill rides, which Jimmy captured on his GoPro; check out the video that Veronica put together.

I was so impressed how sweet the girls were to each other; they took turns riding with each other and being the solo rider so that no one felt left out.