2008 Letter about Leiden: It’s yet another rainy day in The Netherlands. For the past six or seven days it has done nothing but rain. Good for the flower, but unlikely to make Adelle grow!

There’s a bus strike. Apparently the drivers are working rush hours, but not during the day. We dealt with it by simply moving to a campground where we can walk to the Metro. But during our day at Leiden, we saw a long parade of empty buses, apparently a demonstration but of what we don’t know. The interesting thing, though, is that the bus companies allowed the drivers to use the buses!

We had taken a train to Leiden. Fast, easy and very comfortable. The trains must have rubber tires because the ride is smooth and quiet. Not much like the U.S. trains we’ve been on!

First stop was the Tourist Office, where we were given two maps and precious little information. In fact, that’s the treatment we’ve been given generally. In The Hague, the lady quickly outlined the "old city" and suggested we visit the biggest church in the city. She didn’t happen to mention that this church is closed and only open on the days of civic events! In Leiden, the lady mentioned the two churches, but didn’t happen to tell us both were closed – one semi-permanently for restoration and the other for an undetermined reason. We got into one because there were workmen delivering things and the door was open. We recognized the church from a 17^th century painting we’ve recently seen, probably in The Hague.

We went to Leiden for two reasons. One was to see the University. It may really be the oldest one in the world. Never did get there. It was a long walk in the rain.

The second was the American connection to Leiden, the home of the Pilgrims. There is an American Pilgrim’s Museum, a Pilgrim Archive and a walk around the area where they lived. We found the Pilgrim’s Museum with some difficulty. Pushed on the door and it opened although it was very dark inside. No one was about, although we heard sounds from the upstairs and there was a bike in the main room.

Turned out that it wasn’t open yet. A young woman came downstairs, apologized and took the bike outside just as a man entered. Although we had to leave very shortly, it was a very interesting stop. (Continued.....)