Tag: The Netherlands

Hortus Botanicus and Other Delights

Dear Jasper and Kestrel,

I am writing to you because I will be seeing Liza very soon. So, hello, Portland!


We woke up Friday in Leiden, hungry and ready to explore. The city center wakes up pretty slowly, but we found a shop, called Vooraf en Toe, that sold us coffee, juice, and the best apple pie I’ve ever had. Notice my restraint: I didn’t have the whipped cream!

Once we were fed, we walked through town and across canal bridges to the Hortus Botanicus, one of the oldest botanical gardens in Europe. It is in the grounds of the University and is a teaching facility for students as well as a delight for visitors of all ages.

There were tiny mulched trails through forests for a fern garden.

There were signs all over explaining about the really cool details of botany that my Momma got me interested in…. Spores and seeds and Linneaus, biomes and bees and calcium-rich soils.

And when we had looked and read and smelt everything, it was time for lunch. The cafe had a wonderful zucchini soup with fresh baked bread, which I slurped down like a starving woman (which I was!).

Grandpa Nelson is always good company in gardens, museums, and walking around cities. But like most of us, he’s happiest when he has a place to sit and a cup of coffee. Here he is, looking particularly handsome.

I’ll tell you more about Leiden tomorrow!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Into Leiden

Dear Liza,

After the usual disorientation of an overseas flight and time adjustment, we are in Leiden, the Netherlands, and seeing all sorts of lovely things.

We are staying at a hotel called CTY Books, which is a modern place built inside a really old book sellers (from the 1700s). In a perfect blending of new and old, it has super nifty electronic locks but traditional Dutch stairs; AC for the hot days but is perched on a centuries-old canal.


The parts of Leiden we have seen are busy, modern city businesses that work in a very canal laced geography. This giant windmill sits beside a canal on the way from the train station.

Canals are common in The Netherlands because the land is low and swampy, so for centuries the people have dug canals to drain the water away. The canals also make for nice transport, to and from the sea as well as around town.

Our first day, we found De Brucht, which is the remains of an old castle.

It was originally built up as a high place to escape flooding, but when foreign armies threatened, they put a castle on top.

in in the midafternoon we started drooping from jet lag, and went up for a nap. Three hours later we were fit for more site-seeing, and wandered the neighborhood. The old, well maintained buildings and canals make everything look like a fairy tale.

De Landstrader, the restaurant just below our hotel, serves wonderful French fries, as well as salads and dinners. We stopped for some food and wine before heading back in for the night. We ate inside as the canal side tables were getting noisy and we like our conversation un-shouted.

The sunset was stunning at almost 10 p.m. as we headed up to our cozy room.

Tomorrow will be another full day!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Visiting Vincent

Dear Liza,

Vincent van Gogh, one of our favorite artists, only lived to be 37 years old. He didn’t even decide to be a painter until he was 32! Most of his paintings were done in the last year of his life, many at the mental hospital in Rémy, France. He would sometimes paint more than one painting every day.

We found this early work called “Portrait of a Farm Woman”. I can see that Vincent was still painting mostly in the browns and grays he had learned from his uncle in the Netherlands.

Later, after his time in Paris, Vincent used more and brighter colors. He did this colorful, animated “Portrait of a Man” in 1889. The way the fellow’s head is on crooked makes me wonder what sort of character he was!

This is my new favorite Van Gogh painting. The bright blue sky and pink blossoms are so pretty, and you can see the sunshine and shadows moving on the ground under the tree. It is like seeing a breeze.

I love this painting, as well, because I have crossed little bridges like this in Amsterdam. The style of bridge that is very popular in the Netherlands. Since the land is so wet there and the people make canals to help drain the water away, bridges are designed to be both inexpensive to maintain and easily opened for boats to go through.

I also like the blues of the water and sky, and how he shows the ripples in the water where the women are doing the laundry. The ripples sort of tie the man in the wagon to the ladies washing, saying “they are all a part of this place.”

There were more works of art than I could photograph, and more than I can tell you about here. Maybe you and I can travel to the Kröller-Müller Museum some day and I can show them to you. I’ll even buy you lunch!

Love,

Grandma Judy