Boating in Leiden...

On June 19, we borrowed a friend’s boat for an evening of boating in Leiden.

Coming in from Voorschoten, we first passed the Sawmill de Heesterboom, built in 1804...

…then the Molen de Put, rebuilt in 1987 to grind flour...

…and the Oude Haven (old port).

We spotted some pigeons hanging out on a bridge...

…and some geese playing in a smaller canal. 

As you can see, Kati came along for the ride...

...and we ate sandwiches for dinner. 

Jimmy had a chance to relax when Ashlynn and Bjarne took over the helm. Here we’re about to go under one of the many new matching bridges installed in Leiden in an effort to make a circular path around the city connecting the biggest parks. 
 

Fun Times in The Hague...

The kids went into The Hague for a special taster session of paddle boarding, which they managed to do with ease.

Ashlynn was happy to be able to take the others to her favorite rooftop bar in The Hague, where they ordered via an app in order to cut down contact time with staff. 

Veronica and Brett also attended a Black Lives Matter Protest at the Malieveld. 

Points on the ground told everyone where to stand to maintain social distancing and most folks wore masks.

The event was entirely in Dutch, so Brett was left out, but Veronica managed to understand most of what the Black speakers told of their personal experiences of racism in the Netherlands.

She was proud to be part of this peaceful demonstration. In contrast, there were violent protests the following day at the same location as people whined about the Dutch coronavirus measures, which were considered some of the most relaxed in the world. 

 

Reflecting on Amsterdam...

I captured a wide variety of reflection shots while staying in Amsterdam. 

 

Reflection Selfies...

I basically stink at taking selfies, but when we came across a hallway full of mirrors at the Amsterdam Museum, I had to try.

It was definitely easier to take photos of each other. 

After lunch at Blue-Amsterdam, I took a few more selfies into a lighting fixture...

…and a mirror, both of which reflected back the awesome views from this rooftop café.

 

On the Canals...

We hadn’t made any plans to meet up with friends, but after spontaneously inviting Abbie and Derek to join us for a drink, they invited us to go boating the next day. It was a great day to be on the water.

This cool building was still under construction the last time we boated past it.

Jimmy has had beer stops at the end of this island on at least two of his trails. 

There isn’t enough contrast between the sky and water in this photo to really appreciate this cool red bridge.

Not sure how far these four girls could get with those two tiny oars.

What a relaxing way to the spend the afternoon. 

Derek thoroughly enjoyed not having to navigate between the giant tourist boats. 
 

Along the Canals...

Amsterdam has lots of canals, many of which I was happy to photograph. 

With all of the big enclosed tour boats sidelined, the canals were pretty empty. 

For the first time, we spotted this bee garden planted on a canal...

…next to a houseboat with a lovely deck complete with a cow. 

This other canal garden had a resident coot.

Love Me

A normal fact of Amsterdam life in the outer canals is having to wait for drawbridges.

While having a late afternoon picnic along a random outer canal, Jimmy noticed a boater in trouble after running out of gas. Luckily we weren’t too far from a bridge, so he could run across to help the fellow pull his boat to shore. Even luckier, there was a gas station nearby so he was able to get up and running again pretty quickly.