Leiden!

Riding the rails to Leiden

Is a tradition defined by an event 3 years in a row?  Let's go with yes cause that means our annual trip to Leiden is now officially a tradition!  May in France means lots of 3 day weekends and a trip to Leiden, Netherlands for a weekend away and a half marathon.  Two small changes this year. First with the way the holidays fell this year, we actually extended this to a 4 day trip instead of 3.  The other was that I did not actually run the race this year.  No real excuse other than just couldn't get motivated after the March Paris half marathon I ran.  Just couldn't find the time and desire to train and decided not to force it, and the trip may even have been more fun and relaxing without having to worry about the race on Sunday. Next year!

Enjoying Keukenhof gardens

Let's see some tulips, lots and lots of tulips...

With 4 days and no race to run, we had more free time to explore outside of Leiden and we discovered that about 20 minutes away via a direct bus that runs all day long is the Keukenhof gardens.  Open only for about two months each year in the spring, the gardens have literally millions of the famous Holland tulips.  We didn't really know what to expect, but found this to be a perfect outing for us.  The gardens are huge, they have lots of little activities for kids, places to eat, all set up really well.  Similar to an amusement park of sorts with lots of tulips everywhere.  We walked around, took tons of pictures, had lunch and even had a random family from India take a picture with Cleaver and Josephine. Presumably because you know, in India they do not have lots of babies with blue eyes.  This actually happens a fair amount with tourists from Asia as well.  It's bizarre, but has happened a few times now.

Market provisions

Saturday in Leiden of course means market day.  With one of the main canals lined with fruits, vegetables, cheese, and snack stands we loaded up from the market with plenty of everything including of course our favorite stand with the dips and olives that are all amazing.  As it was a fairly rainy day, we braved the market and then made our way back to our apartment for a relaxing lazy afternoon, complete of course with happy hour to enjoy our procured bounty from the morning.

In Amsterdam along a canal

With much nicer weather on Sunday and no race to run, we made the 30 minute train ride north to Amsterdam.  We found a great little place for lunch away from the touristy areas and then walked along the canals, stumbling upon Vondelpark along the way.  A large park full of people on a sunny day, picnics and even live music.  The kind of place where you would go on a warm day if you lived here.  From there we continued on foot to the center of Amsterdam, making stops along the way for pictures and a quick libation near a canal.  Amsterdam if I haven't said before is one of my favorite cities in Europe.

Quick train ride back to Leiden and one more happy hour and a relaxing evening in town before heading back to reality on Monday.  Bit of an added adventure was on the train ride home Cleaver would be departing in Brussels, which is about half way, as she had work meetings there on Tuesday.  So Josephine and I would have to complete the rest of the trip to Paris alone which of course we managed just fine.  Leiden once again did not disappoint and continues to get better each time we go.  Can't wait for next year!