The Hague and Leiden

Not that I need reasons to travel but I've had a few good ones in the last few weeks.  Namely, my friend and coworker Lindsay accepted a job in The Netherlands and seeing as I have a friend from uni who lives in precisely the town she's moving to, it seemed impolite to not visit.

We took a long weekend away and did a whistle-stop tour all things Dutch--The Hague, Leiden, Amsterdam.  I must say, very much like Belgium, the Netherlands are a hidden gem of liberalism, good beer and long-limbed-bicyclists.

Stop One: The Hague
Due to some kind of apocalypse, the Hilton became an on-sale, affordable option.  So we dropped our things in what can only be described as an amply bathroomed palace and hit the streets of the capital of the European Court.  Impressions: small, regal, charming.

 And drunk. Did I mention drunk?

Stop Two: Leiden 
In order to give Lindsay some peace of mind about her life-changing decision, we thought it only right to drop in on Alex who works for the European Space Agency near Leiden.  He put us up in his big-windowed flat, a five metre walk from the nearest canal and let us hit the greenery that abounded in a city/town too magnificent for pictures.  The view of Alex's flat--and poetry in greek atop his brickwork:

To tick the stereotype box, we were greeted by a windmill and some loquacious ducks who wanted to share the lunch we forgot to bring.

Turning various corners, we were further met with canals, pavement cafes and pedestrian cobbled streets.  There were quirks--a fast food burger joint where no human interaction was necessary; a lady who walked her motley crew of disabled canines around town; Joe, the bagel man, with his electric whip-sharp bagel slicer.

Bikes, bikes and more bikes:

 I learned a lot about architecture, winches and why the buildings slant.  Apparently, Dutch houses are very narrow and windy and full of steep staircases.  This is obviously not conducive to getting things like couches and baby grand pianos up to second and third story rooms.  Thus, in a feat of intelligent thinking, the Dutch decided to build their houses with big windows, pitch the buildings forward and build winch hooks into the top floor of buildings.

Clever, and tall, and lovely, the Dutch.