Sea Animal Invasion...

I loved that the International Kite Festival had sea animals as the theme once again. There weren’t as many kites this year as it was crazy windy, but it was still great.

I especially loved the three squids.

There were also some cute fish...

...a mean fish...

...and seahorses.

Leiden Art Route...

Jimmy and I headed back to Leiden the next day to go on the Leiden Art Route, which we saw posters for the previous day, with dozens of art galleries open all over the city.

 It was another gorgeous day to roam around this beautiful city.

Not only did we see some cool art, but we visited lots of interesting homes and other buildings, including a photographer’s studio in the attic of an old building...

 ...with a giant mirror which was perfect for a selfie.

While this building wasn’t part of the art walk, it was very artistic. Built in 1927 as the headquarters for the Leiden Police Department, it was converted into apartments in 2014. 

Spotted in Leiden...

We were excited to see that Pronk Brewery was having an open day. How cool that there’s a brewery inside the now defunct switch house at the local energy company. It definitely made for a colorful and interesting place to learn about local beers.

They were getting ready for a pre-booked tour in Dutch, so we bought a few beers to go. Hopefully we’ll be able to go back sometime for a proper tour.

In addition to seeing some beautiful flowers...

...we saw some funny art, including a metal suitcase...

...and a bee car.

Walking Around Leiden...

That weekend we were back in Leiden on a beautiful sunny Saturday for a nice walk around town.

Thought it was cute how this crow was perched on a stone owl...

...in front of this impressive old building.

This is the Holy Spirit Orphanage, which moved in 1583 into what was once a woman’s hospital.

The orphanage operated here for nearly 400 years until 1961. This building now houses a charity that offers a variety of workshops for children along with a small theater.

It was so cute to see these two little girls playing on this piano placed in a public square.

I never get tired of viewing Leiden canals...

...or taking photos into mirrors.

Hashing in The Hague...

We don’t hash much with The Hague H3 these days, so it was extra special to run around in the center of The Hague.

Here we are in front of the Ridderzaal...

...and here we are doing Down-Downs for a variety of hash sins.

Red Dress Hash in The Hague...

That Wednesday, The Hague H3 hosted a Red Dress Hash that started in front of the Peace Palace. I went into town a few hours early to have a chat and a drink with Deb, who served on the AWC Board with me years ago but is now living back in California. 

Opee stopped at the store to pick up a few pre-hash beers.

Lucy wore a green dress over a red one, which seemed a bit backwards considering the theme.

Even stranger was Virgin’s Dream, who showed up wearing a Santa outfit.

Turnout was impressive and the weather was excellent.

Spotted in Haarlem....

It was cool to see inside some of the grand buildings as well. 

This place was fancy, but also quite tacky inside.

The Haarlem train station opened in 1839, on the Amsterdam-Rotterdam railway, the first railway line in the Netherlands,

I think it’s the classiest station in the country with separate waiting rooms for the different classes of service.

It’s very cool that there’s now a library at the station.

This Delft Blue tiled plaque was made in honor of the 100th anniversary of the train service. 

We had a great turnout for the FILTH H3 trail that afternoon from the Overveen train station. Ironically, Trix and I, the slowest runners, were the only ones who ended up doing true trail as the other runners all took a shortcut by accident. Afterwards, we had a long circle and BBQ.

A police officer stopped by our circle to make sure we weren’t causing any trouble.