Last day of the trip! Sorry for the delay!

We woke up very early to catch a flight to the Amsterdam airport, where I exulted at the familiar airport convenience stores with yummy grab-and-go food and smoothies.

Rather than return to Amsterdam, we took the train straight to Leiden, a college town, one of the oldest towns in the Netherlands, and home to my friend Bart!

We dropped into our hotel to rest for a bit because we were so zonked from our late night and early morning.

After about an hour, Bart biked over to meet us in our hotel lobby, and he brought homemade cookies from his parents! The keys are a symbol of the city.

I met Bart in a hostel in Portugal back in 2016, and I visited him in Leiden 2017. I think that may have been the last time we saw each other in person, though it really doesn’t feel that long ago! We’re in fairly frequent contact via email, Whatsapp, and postcards, always being sure to keep each other updated on our travels. I knew he and Sean would be fast friends.

We started with a classic Bart tour. This guy really is a great tour guide. He showed us the city and its canals, peppering in bits of history here and there about the city and the country.

Sean found an article recently that listed Leiden as one of the most underrated cities in Europe. Or maybe it was the best city to visit? Something like that. But it really is like a mini Amsterdam!

We popped into several churches and were really soaking up the nice weather. When we’re apart, Bart and I love to complain and brag about our bad and good weather, respectively.

We stopped for lunch at a waterfront restaurant, where I ordered a ridiculous caramel coffee drink with a giant pile of caramel cubes on top.

We also ordered a bruschetta type dish that the table next to us had (it looked so good, and definitely lived up to our expectations!) as well as a traditional dish of soup, poached egg, and a little sausage roll thing. That dish was… Interesting, haha. I liked the soup!

The pigeons were positively going to town whenever somebody got up from their table. Truly no boundaries and no fear. I thought it was hilarious, but Sean thought it was gross. Which is fair!

After lunch, we continued through the town, stopping in at several cute little design stores and more churches filled with art exhibitions.

We were obsessed with these wooden-painting-carving-cut things. I don’t even know what to call them. They were so beautiful and intricate. Such a unique and impressive art style!

Here’s some more streets and more art.

And a pretty park that used to be some kind of fort.

Walking along the top wall gave some great views of the city!

Then we visited one of the large bridges and the gates of the city.

Near one of the churches, people were getting set up for some kind of festival. We were going to miss it, but I was definitely intrigued!

We walked some more to view yet more churches and more art.

And then we finally got a photo with Bart! Huzzah!

I think Bart had taken me here before, but there is an ancient Egyptian temple that was gifted to the Netherlands, and it’s kept in one of the museums in Leiden. Museum entrance has a fee, but it is free to visit the temple.

We walked along the water and debated whether we should take a boat ride or a bike ride, but I decided we should bike, since I’d never biked in the Netherlands! It’s one of the bike capitals of the world!

Sean and I went to rent some bikes while Bart ran back to the train station to get his.

There was a bit of a misunderstanding during the rental process. We had already picked out our bikes, had them fitted for us and unlocked, and we had paid. Then we went in for a quick bathroom break, and when we came out, they were sizing my bike for some other lady!

“Usually the people take the bikes with them,” said the worker. Um… I don’t think this was my fault! I was getting there! Bahaha.

Once that was sorted, we were off.

We biked through a beautiful system of bike trails that was totally separate from the road, but there were so many offshoots and cyclists that it was like a road system itself.

We ended in the next town over, at a small castle, where we were chastised for not walking our bikes. (Apparently there was a sign we missed!)

It was so idyllic here. So peaceful!

On our way back, we took a more direct route, stopping to rest for some beer. (Yay, radler!)

Apparently Bart tries to bike at least half an hour every day, so it was hard to keep up with him on the way back! Yeesh!

Back in Leiden, we visited another city gate.

And then we stopped into the same tapas restaurant Bart brought me to last time I visited so we could share the experience with Sean. For one price, it’s all-you-can-eat tapas. The drinks and dessert are extra, but they are cheap!

I won’t even attempt to explain every dish we tried. I’m just going to bombard you with photos. All I remember from last time was that I loved the carpaccio, and it did not disappoint this time, either!

This was some kind of cheesey dip topped with pomegranate. Interesting, but tasty!

Some avocado topped with tuna:

And, though we were full, Bart talked us into sharing a tiramisu.

During dinner, we continued to catch up on each other’s life, work, and travels. It was so nice to see Bart again!

By the end of the meal, we were way too full, and Bart kept mentioning that we were ordering way quicker than most people…. Apparently we were doing it wrong! I mean, we were there for three hours as it was!

And eventually, we had to run home out of exhaustion and in preparation for another morning flight. We bid farewell to Bart, hoping to see him again soon, and returned our bikes to our rental shop.

We walked along the water back to our Airbnb during sunset, amazingly after 10pm, and said goodnight to Europe.

In the morning, we had a quick train ride to Schiphol, and then a long non-stop home. Please enjoy some photos from the plane ride! So many amazing mountain ranges!

Do you see the dog sitting just on top of the little river? So cool!

And some tiny windmills! (Okay, I know they’re probably gigantic, but they were so cute from up above!)

There were some really amazing snow-covered mountains in the North.

Check out the alpine ice-covered lakes:

And glaciers!

We did have one funny thing happen on the plane. I think we flew Delta, and they provided free booze to the cheap seats. (Huzzah!) I’ve had a harder time with wine lately, so I’d ordered a rum and coke on our first flight. I wanted to switch it up this time, though!

I asked Sean to help me think of other options as the drink cart drew near. They had specifically said, “free wine, beer, and cocktails.” Well, Sean recommended a margarita, and I had recently had a little canned margarita on an Alaska flight, so I timidly asked the flight attendant, “Do you have margaritas?”

This flight attendant! Bahahaha. Her eyebrows hit her hairline. And then she looked behind her as if to make eye contact with anyone around who may have heard. And then she turned and sung to no one, “She’s a dreameeeeerrr!!!”

I was so embarrassed, and we were laughing so hard. “You said cocktails!” was my only response. But yes, they really just meant well drinks. Yeesh! False advertising, hahahaha. I stuck with a rum and coke in the end.

She was actually super sweet the whole flight, and came over to ask what we were looking at out the window at one point. It was either Greenland or Iceland. And then she told us to make sure we were wearing sunscreen because the UV rays were so much more powerful up here. Is that true?? Through the window?? Idk!

Either way, that’s a wrap on our Europe trip! And just in time to start blogging my next trip…. That’s what I get for procrastinating!

We were welcomed home by views of Rainier!

Until next time!

Venlig hilsen/ Hartelijke groet,

Lizzy-wa