Around Leiden

Sunny Leiden

A bit busier with school now that my third class has begun. It's in the psychology department and is about the impact of culture on health and health care systems internationally. It's a large, lecture-style class with mostly Dutch students. So far, so good. My final class begins at the end of April, and I'll be done with exams mid-June.

In the mean time, I've just been relaxing and gallivanting, as per usual, and soaking up as much springtime sun as the Dutch sky will allow.

Canal on Rapenburg

Leiden

Crooked Amsterdam

The girls on the dunes at the beach outside Leiden

Flying a kite by the North Sea

This dirty bike had just been dredged up from the bottom
of the canal in Leiden

Laura & I made omelettes and toast for dinner

Mama and baby duckies swimming in someone's mistakes
Amsterdam

Street Fair in Dam Square
Amsterdam

World Pillow Fight Day!
04/04/09
Amsterdam

Feathers!

Visitors outside my window
Leiden

Central Holland: Utrecht

Went on a day trip to Utrecht City, in the central part of the Netherlands along with the Hungarian troupe.

Went to Utrecht with these monkeys
Laura, Kata, Maja

Along with Leiden, it's one of the very oldest cities in Holland, dating back to the 1st century when the Romans set up a settlement and a fortress there. Even before the city was founded however, there is archeological evidence dating human settlement in the area to the Stone Age.

It's a beautiful city, a bit larger than Leiden and also a university city. The canals are everywhere, just like in all of Holland, but in Utrecht they go far below street level, forming "wharves" which are unique to the city. There are little alcoves of shops that open up in the summer underneath the street level, creating really cool layers on the streets. The two main canals, the Oudegracht and Nieuwegracht, date from the 11th and 13th centuries respectively.

UFO

Gardens at Domkerk, the oldest church in Utrect,
dating back to 48 A.D. when the Romans built on the site
of the current church

Nice environmentalist street art

Canal wharves

Nieuwegracht


Apocolypse stain glass at the Museum Catharijneconvent

St. Catarina Kathedraal

Oudegracht