Nieuw Vennep, Netherlands
Big day today of travel and sightseeing. We started off with a visit to the nearby tulip fields. Steven apologised as the season had gone past its peak, but we were blown away with the riot of colour that stretched to the horizon.
After a short stop, at Austin’s insistence and Stephen’s amusement, to meet some young Lakenvelder or Dutch Belted cattle and Zwartbles sheep in a paddock along our way, we drove to Noordwijk Aan Zee on the coast of the North Sea. A wild wind-swept expanse of sand with yellowish-green foam along the shore-line and wind-surfers braving the bracing blow over tumultuous waves and churning swells.
After stretching our legs for a bit along the beach, we entered the Branding Beach Club cafe to enjoy a Tartare Beef, dutch-style lunch, which despite its almost raw appearance, actually tasted quite good.
From the North Sea to Leiden, where we spent the rest of the day. This lovely University City is criss-crossed by charming canals and booming with bountiful bicycles. We started our tour of this charming place by visiting the Molenmuseum “De Valk” trapsgewijs bekeken (The De Valk Mill Museum viewed in steps). This eight storied museum depicts not only the workings of the mill itself but the living quarters of the miller and his family over different floors. At the top deck is displayed the mechanics for changing the angle of the sails and provides a nice view across the town.
After the mill, we headed for the Hortus Botanicus, the oldest Botanical Garden in Leiden. Although the herbarium was once housed here, it has been combined with the herbariums of Utrecht and Wageningen and moved to a new museum in the northern part of Leiden. Not that Austin had time to visit it anyway. Nevertheless, the gardens and greenhouses were well worth the visit.
One of the interesting historical aspects of Leiden is its connection to the Pilgrim Fathers who settled in Plymouth, North America. On 12th February 1609, the government of Leiden granted permission to 100 English Puritan separatists, including their leader John Robinson, to settle in the city (“No honest persons will be refused free and unconstrained entry to the city to take up residence”). Other refugees had fled persecution in England to live in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. In Leiden, they moved into the Pieterskerk district, living in relative peace and becoming integrated into the Dutch textile industry. However, due to difficulties with respect to language barriers, economics, concerns about the morals of the local inhabitants, increasing censorship and rumours of war, in 1620, some of these people left the Netherlands for America, to start a new life and to establish their own farmlands.
Walking back through the streets and over the canals, Stephen took us into a couple of small community garden squares which were originally established to service the houses provided by the town for the poor. These little gardens are tucked away from the main streets and can be visited, provided you are respectful of the peaceful and quiet aspect they offer.
The last visit for the day was to the Burcht van Leiden, an old shell fort, used to harbour the populace if an invading army was passing by. On a prominent hill in the middle of the old town, it provides great views. At the end of a busy day of sightseeing, we ended up in one of the many canal-side open cafes for a well earned drink and a view of the late afternoon sun reflecting off the water and the buildings lining its shores and the old bridge market before heading back home. A lovely day.
