Holland - Day 5

Since the previous day had been a pretty drama intensive day for Carsten, we elected to stay close to where we were staying so we could get back in time for his nap. So, we went to Leiden, which ended up being a wonderful choice. After finding parking (which was a bit of a trick) we walked towards downtown. Our first stop was at an adorable windmill and bridge area; I'd have to say that I was really hoping that I'd get some good photos of a windmill. And contrary to the weather reports we actually had nice weather instead of the rain that was predicted. Rain was predicted pretty much every day and somehow we managed to avoid it :). The windmill area happened to have a small playground, which of course, we stopped and let Carsten play on. Also, can I tell you that I think The Netherlands would be a hard place to raise a toddler? There are rarely any railings near the canals and the ones they have anything could slip through, and my son would definitely fall in if he wasn't in his stroller. Good thing we don't live there :). Here's a few photos of the 'windmill park':

Windmill and pretty bridge

The Huisman group :)

It rained overnight so we let Carsten go puddlejumping.

Windmill!

Playground equipment

Love this photo!

 Leiden's claim to fame is that Rembrandt was born there, so on accident we stumbled upon the house (rebuilt of course) where he was born. There were still lots of canals in Leiden, and we definitely enjoyed walking around the picturesque town.

Rembrandt!

Pretty canals

We then stopped in a museum that had a collection from ancient Egypt, Greek, and Roman times, but we ended up just stopping for coffee and a snack instead of going inside because we wanted to be able to let Carsten walk around without worry too much if he was going to run into a priceless item from history. We then wandered around the town which was quite fun, and it was very cute. First we stumbled up the jail from 1463, which is now used as law offices. Then we went to St. Peter's church and stumbled upon a bizarre bazaar (you may laugh now). The town was hosting a marathon and the church was starting point I think so they had set up booths inside the church for athletic wear. It was very strange to see that in a church. In fact, there were no pews and we weren't sure if it was actually being used a church anymore. We did get some free drinkable yogurt though :). Here's a few photos of the jail and church:

The jail. Apparently the square we were in is where the hung people.

St. Peter's Church

The bizarre bazaar. :)

Brought to you by the Leiden Marathon

We then started walking around trying to get to different churches, but were definitely thwarted along the way by the marathon as you couldn't walk across the street in many places and when you were by the loudspeakers, it was deafening, which really ruined the aura :). Our wanderings took us past the town hall, Hooglandes Kirk, The Burcht (a man-made mound from ~1000 A.D. with walls to help protect the people from floods), and to top it off, jolly men singing in a boat in the canal. Here's a few photos:

The crew in Leiden

Andy just barely fit in this doorway. You'd think the Dutch would have taller doorways :). Perhaps they just have hard heads...

Town Hall

Hooglandes Kerk I love the red doors.

Carsten loved the chance to run :).

The Burcht. It was quite a steep hill.

The men serenading the runners. It was quite funny, actually.

 It was around lunch time so we went back to our condo, which was thankfully about 20 min away. Carsten had a much needed nap of 3 hrs, and then afterwards we went and played in the fantastic pool area in our campground. The indoor pool had a very nice toddler area that was even fenced off from the main pool. Andy played with Carsten while the rest of us talked - both he Carsten were worn out after about 45 minutes!It was definitely one of the fancier campgrounds I've stayed in. We enjoyed the campers which had amazing awnings that I think my parents should get on their camper someday :).

Awesome awnings.

He's excited for the pool!

That was our day! Our evening was spent packing up for the trip home the next morning. I forgot to mention that I asked Hillie what Hoogeveen meant in Dutch and she said that 'Hoog' meant high while 'veen' meant peat, so it means high peat, referring to the type of land where Hoogeveen is. So there we go :).