Today was a Leiden kind of day! We made the quick trip to Leiden this morning and stayed for most of the afternoon, enjoying blue skies and mild weather.
I've been thinking about how to make this blog post interesting, since I posted all of my pictures and accompanying captions on Facebook already. This can't be just a rehash of the same old information. No, this is going to be better! First I will start with a story. We read it in a guidebook on the train ride over, and I have just now supplemented my knowledge with Wikipedia.
The Siege of Leiden
Setting: Leiden, June 1574. The Dutch are rebelling against their Spanish governor, the Duke of Alba, who in response has been besieging cities left and right with his army.
Duke of Alba: My army has you surrounded! You have no way of getting supplies! Give in!
People of Leiden: Oh no! What should we do?
Rebels: Never surrender!
People of Leiden: But what about those residents in Haarlem and Naarden? The Duke took no mercy on them!
Rebels: No! We must never surrender!
People of Leiden: Ok.
September, 1574:
Army: We are still here!
People of Leiden: Dude, we have no food. It's been three months. Thousands have died.
People from the south: We just broke the dikes, allowing waters to come flood up to the city walls! Then boats can deliver food! Oh, wait, the water's not high enough...
Mayor of Leiden: I offer my arm as food, out of loyalty to my city (this fact is disputed).
People of Leiden: How noble! We must hold on, as an example to all other cities!
October, 1574:
Storms: CRASH!
People of Leiden: A storm! Enough water that now the broken dikes will flood, and relief forces will come to our city!
Relief Forces: We have used the flood waters to bypass the Duke of Alba's army, and bring food directly to your city walls. Here, eat herring, white bread, and hutspot!
People of Leiden: Hurray!
1575:
William of Orange: This city was brave during the entire siege. I therefore establish the University of Leiden.
People of Leiden: Hurray!
END SCENE
And that, my friends, is a story about Leiden. Nearly all of it is true.
Now to some actual stuff about my day.
-We first got off the train and almost immediately saw a windmill. Then we made our way to our top museum priority, the National Museum of Antiquities. There are plenty of other museums in Leiden, but one can only handle so many in a day. This museum was A) full of Egyptian, Roman, and Greek artifacts, B) bigger than I thought it would be, and C) free on our museum cards. Win-win-win.
-Later we wandered into the Botanical gardens, which were very pretty even with only a few things growing/blooming. I decided that I like crocuses a lot. They are brave for being the first things to come out each spring.
-We never once used a map to navigate, relying instead on signposts, intuition, and luck.
-It really is very hard to cross the road when you have to sneak between fast-moving bikes and faster-moving vehicles.
-The "beach" setting on my camera (highlighting blues) makes all sky/water scenes in spring look great:
Leiden was an great time, and I'm glad I got to spend such an excellent day there. I know several American colleges do an exchange program through the University of Leiden, and I can tell that Leiden would definitely be worth spending an entire semester in.
But I've always been a big city girl at heart ;)
To your last comment, me too! :-)
ReplyDelete~Chloe V