For the last leg of our Northwest Europe adventure, we returned to the Netherlands and spent five nights in Den Haag (a.k.a. The Hague). From there, we took day trips to Leiden and Rotterdam.
In this post, we’ll share pictures from our day in Leiden.
It was raining or threatening to rain for much of the time we were in Leiden, so we started by eating lunch at Freddy’s, an appealing, upscale restaurant/brewery not far from the train station.
We’ve learned that restaurants and bars that are serious about the beers they serve are very conscious about serving the beer in the proper glass. Note the assortment of glassware at the bar. That’s our waiter. He was very friendly.
No, we didn’t have beer for lunch.
Often, when Dave sees a pulled pork sandwich on the menu, he chooses that. He was surprised to see it served open-face. It was delicious, though.
Next, we walked a few blocks through the cute pedestrian- and bike-friendly streets to the Rijksmuseum Boerhaave, a museum devoted to the history of science and, in particular, medical science.
We hoped to take a canal tour on this day. Thankfully, when we emerged from the museum, the sky was clearing up. So we booked a tour at 4:00.
Near the boat dock, there was a pop-up marketplace with several vendors selling vinyl records, so we spent some time browsing the bins.
Jeff had a nice conversation with one of the vendors about his time as a club DJ during the disco era in the 80s.
At 4:00, we boarded the canal boat for our one-hour tour. We listened to a pre-recorded narration via headset, which was offered in ten languages. While we appreciate the need to accommodate people in their choice of language, it lacked the engagement of live narration from the driver that we enjoyed in Giethoorn and Bruges.
Still, the trip was enjoyable and, as you’ll see, Leiden was charming.
We considered returning to Freddy’s for dinner, but decided to take the train back to The Hague and eat at one of the restaurants near our apartment.