European Adventure - Day 3

European adventure - day 3

Jet lag still effecting my sleep, was up most of the night, partly the jet lag and partly the excitement of seeing the tulips once again.  Was up early and went to the breakfast, very disappointing, but it did come with the room, so my expectations weren't high, good thing.  Some meats and cheeses and breads.  After breakfast I was able to take a nap before heading to the gardens.  The taxi arrived on time and I was at the gardens before the gates opened.  

I'd been spending a lot of time with several different people learning more about my camera, I wanted the best photos possible this trip, and it was time to learn more.  Couldn't wait to use my new knowledge!  I walked into the gardens and my heart just dropped.  The flower beds that had been so colorful the year before, we're still green, no tulips.  I talked to a lady in the cheese shop and she guaranteed that there were some tulips blooming further into the gardens.  The hyacinths were lovely, and filled the air with their delightful scents, but they aren't tulips.  There were more types of daffodils than I ever could have imagined, but the weren't tulips. Further into the gardens there were many tulip buds and some were open, but not many.  I wandered, sadly, photographing what I could, and being thankful that I'd seen the gardens the year before in full bloom.  It was an overcast day, and cold and windy.  I went to the windmill and it was a barren scene in the cold, last year there were crowds of people milling about everywhere, and that is where I met the two young, kind people.  There were people waiting for the whisper boats to take them on the canals through the tulip fields.  This year, just a handful of people about.

Luckily for most people I talked to, it was their first visit and they found it lovely, they had nothing to compare it to.  And it was lovely, just not with tulips. My friend, Jenny, went a week later and the hyacinths were gone, replaced by blooming tulips.  I'm glad she saw it in all its splendor, many arriving that late in the season, don't.

After wandering for a couple of hours, perhaps a bit longer, and taking a couple thousand photos, I headed back to the hotel.  Last year I took a nap and went back to the gardens, this year I'd seen all there was to see and decided not to return for the afternoon.  

Last year I'd read about the Pilgrim Museum in Leiden and my Scottish friend Jon had told me about the very nice antiquities museum too.  So I got directions and off I headed on the local bus.  Three days and three buses so far.  What an adventure, me and the Dutch people headed to Leiden.  I arrived at the main bus station and no one knew of the museum or even the address where it was located.  Finally two people told me where to take the bus that was close to that address.  The Portuguese lady was a visiting professor there and the most helpful.  Seems like I find kind Portuguese people everywhere.  I got off the bus and started my wandering and asking directions.  Leiden is a lovely little town, charming canals and  cafes.  Finally I walked into a bakery and asked where the museum was, I knew I was close.  A young lady in the bakery said she had just seen it a few days before and could take me there.  So we headed out and less than a block away she stopped in front of an old door, and said that was it.  I wasn't too sure about it and then the door opened and a young lady, perhaps college age, said that she heard us talking and I was at the right place, it was indeed the pilgrim museum.  Hmmm...so in I went.  I entered a small dark room,and after taking the admission donation, she told me the 'curator' would be back shortly, he was doing a tour of the house next door.  Then she proceeded to tell me that no pilgrim had ever been there!  I was expecting to go back to school with stories of where the pilgrims met in Leiden, but no.  She said that the large portrait over the mantle was one pilgrim who might, at sometime, perhaps have walked past the place we were.  Hmmm...

The room was small and had period pieces in it.  Things that were part of pilgrim life.  A tiny closet door opened to a bathroom, a toilet, similar to an outhouse indoors.  Soon the curator returned and was told I was a school teacher so he said he would show me which books were correct and which weren't.  He pulled out a couple of books by scholastic and said they were accurate.  He showed a couple of older national geographic books and explained why they were inaccurate.  And then he sat down and just looked at me.  I was waiting for a tour of the building next door, or something, but finally I realized I was done.  Strange feeling.  So as we sat and just looked at each other I said maybe I would head to the antiquities museum and he kindly offered to show me the way and took me to the corner and pointed the directions.  

So off I went, not terribly impressed with the pilgrim museum, but decided I was glad I finally found it, and at least I'd been in one of the oldest 'houses' in Leiden.  I walked quite a ways and asked directions along the way, so many helpful people there.  I arrived at the museum 10 minutes before closing and wasn't allowed in, but at least I saw what was in the lobby and browsed the gift store.  

I was leaving and asked directions to the closest bus stop and one of the young men working there said I should just walk to the main bus station, it was a lovely walk.  After some thought I decided the weather was nice, there was plenty of daylight left, so why not?  I felt so brave and like such a good traveler, and off I went.  Wandering on streets so far from home, so far from anything familiar, is truly exciting for me.  I savor the 'safe' risk, and take it all in as I wander.  After passing several restaurants advertising pancakes, I finally decided to choose one for a different pancake experience.  As I was reading a menu a hostess asked if she could help me, I said I was just seeing if there were any pancakes I would like,  she seemed quite put out with me as she replied that they had over 100 kinds so surely I could find one I liked.  Actually the problem wasn't finding one I liked, it was trying to decide which I wants out of all of the choices.  I sat down and had a delicious one, similar to the one the night before.  Loved watching the local people around me enjoying their pannenkoek, I felt much more the traveler than the tourist.  After enjoying dinner I continued on my journey through Leiden to the main bus station and after a short wait, I was headed back to Lisse.  

I was glad that was my last night to spend in that hotel.  I had dinner there, it came with the room and even though the reviews were not good for the restaurant, my dinner was delicious.  I went quite late since I'd had my pancake 'appetizer' and my hours were still a mess from the jet lag.  I made very sure that the front desk knew I needed a wake up call the next morning...wasn't too confident about it, but my alarm clock was broken, so I had to depend on them.

I had a taxi driver, the very nice man from a nearby town who I'd had last year, coming to pick me up at 8:30 the next morning to drive me into Amsterdam to catch the train to Brussels and on to Bruges.  I was going quite early, decided I'd feel better being near the station and I could put my luggage in a locker and wander there for an hour or two.  This was a splurge, but I knew I would be in good hands and looked forward to seeing him again.  And since my ticket was on a high speed train, I'd had to make a reservation for a reserved train and time, so I didn't want to miss it.  

And so I settled down for a nice nap, I didn't sleep long that night and spent hours awake reading.  I went to breakfast at 6:30 AM, and then made sure everything was packed and went back to sleep, AFTER calling the reception desk to be sure they had my wake up call for 8 AM scheduled.  No problem I was told...