Cool New Bridges...

Here's two more examples of new bridges that Leiden installed to bring the Singelpark to life. This one is particularly steep. 

As you can see, it's all steps without the gullies sometimes included for bike tires. 

This bridge called for extra photos of me...

...and Terri.

And here's the view from the top of the bridge.

One other cool new bridge was at the front of what used to be one of our favorite restaurants in Leiden: De Grote Beer (The Big Bear). 

It is now a tapas restaurant called Tabu, where we've enjoyed a few meals along the water since we bought into Bootjuh (I'd say invested, but that would imply that we'd get our pennies back, which I don't suspect we ever will, but I'm not complaining).  

 

New Park Route in Leiden...

On January 17. Terri took me and Kati to Leiden. We parked near where we keep Bootjuh since I knew there was free parking in that area on Sundays. Our goal was to walk the Singelpark, a ring of seven parks along the old city moat.

On our first ride on Bootjuh on July 30, we spotted this bridge which looked finished, but wasn't officially opened until months later. 

I'm good at pretending that I know my way, but here's proof that I went the wrong way and directed us outside the ring of parks. 

It's always nice to know that Terri will remember to take a selfie of us together. 

Loved the shadows across this bridge...

...which I first captured back in November....

....along with this one at the same time. 

We don't see a lot of graffiti in Leiden, but saw these Japanese warriors on our walk. 

 

Colorful Boats...

As you can see, we saw many colorful boats with lots of incredible reflections that day. 

Check out the name of this sailboat in our village. 

This isn't a particularly pretty boat, but it sure makes a cool reflection.

Just love how these pink and teal boats reflect on a windless day. 

 

Winter Boating...

We started the New Year the right way: a boat ride on January 2. 

It was a cold winter's day, but luckily not brutally cold. We met up with Reinhardt and Inga for our first group boat ride since becoming co-owners. The goal was to bring the boat to Voorschoten so that our neighbor could help transport the floor planks in his car to our house so Jimmy could strip and varnish them over the winter. 

We were thankful for no wind, which kept us warmer and meant I could catch some decent photos. 

Jimmy managed to prove to them that he was a good skipper. 

This photo shows how calm everything was before things got crazy. Jimmy pulled the boat into our neighbor's slip and the dock was covered in algae. Inga stepped out first, her foot slipped on the muck and she fell into the canal. Her only concern was her phone, which was luckily safe in her pocket. She quickly managed to pop back out of the chilly water. She and I then walked about 10 minutes back to our place to get her a change of clothes. Despite her tiny body frame, she had big enough feet to even be able to borrow shoes.  

On the way back to Leiden, I took this photo of one of Voorschoten's fanciest restaurants; we've only been there once when our former next door neighbor invited us to his 50th birthday party.

About 30 minutes after her plunge into the cold water, Inga was all smiles. 
 

Meanwhile in Exeter...

The girls made sushi for their New Year’s Eve dinner.

They used Mibo to meet Brett on the island.

They had fun dancing in the kitchen...

...the living room...

...and outside at midnight after finally meeting Veronica’s neighbors for the first time.
 

New Year’s Eve in Holland...

Since it was pretty cold, Jimmy set up his paella kit inside.

As always, his paella turned out great!

I was so surprised when Carlin presented me with this beautiful infinity scarf that she had knitted me. 

Technically, we were only allowed two visitors for New Year’s Eve. Since we couldn’t exclude Mark or Kent, we just made sure not to hang out by the front window. 

Mark went home after dinner, so it was just the four of us who toasted at midnight and walked around the neighborhood to check out the fireworks. 

Despite firework sales being banned in the Netherlands due to the pandemic, that didn’t stop our village from blasting a surprising ton of big fireworks... 

...and from lighting some bonfires.

It was hard to tell if Kati was barking or howling to the moon.