Day 26: Leiden

Leiden Windmill

Today we went to the city of Leiden.  It was an early morning because the train ride was about an hour and a half.  It was POURING rain this morning so it was all a bit miserable. Even Marek says that the bad weather we have been experiencing this week has been unusual even for the wet climate of Amsterdam.  We went to the Leiden Museum, which is by far the smallest museum we have visited so far (secret sigh of relief), and saw a lot of Last Judgement triptychs with a few Rembrandt works thrown into the mix. On the topic of Rembrandt, we recently learned that art historians are in constant argument over Rembrandt's oeuvre because he did not sign his work and had many students that painted in the same style that he himself used so therefore a person or museum is never positive that they have a genuine Rembrandt.  Back to the museum: it was fine and there was actually a set of Jan Toorop in another section of the museum that I really enjoyed but for the most part the museum was not that amazing in comparison with others we have visited.

Canal and boat cafes

Leiden Church--we didn't go in, ph

After the museum visit we walked around the city a little as the skies began to clear.  A girl in the group, Katy, had her 19th birthday on Monday but she was sick and it was not celebrated so we all decided to take her out for a birthday dinner when we got off the train in Amsterdam.  We found a restaurant called Vapiano connected to the public library right near the station.  It was amazing and so is the library! When you go into the restaurant they give you a card and then you take the card to different sections of the restaurant to get food, drink, dessert, etc.  Each time you want something more you just swipe the card and as you leave you take the card to the register and pay your total.  This system made it so easy with a large group.  Not only was paying convenient and cheap but the food was made in front of you from fresh ingredients.  I will defsies be going back to this Italian restaurant, which has a big front patio, but I also want to go to the library, which looks so absolutely state-of-the-art.

Fashion Police, who wore it better?

ma food and our tree table.  I swear I wasn't alone..just the first to get my food!

After dinner the weather was really nice,  so Tracy, Angie and I decided to walk back to the dorms instead of tram.  We got a little stuck because at one point we ran into water and no way to cross, but for the most part the walk was so pleasant and I saw areas of the city that I had not seen before at all.  The picture to the side is a floating herb garden in one of the quite canals...how these are tended to and harvested are a mystery to me but it is a really clever and cute idea.  The thing at the bottom of the picture is a duck nest and ducks really do use them! It's adorable.