Day 71-The Netherlands, Amsterdam

Walking took up the majority of the day today. Beginning in Leyden, we walked to a quiet canal where we watched swans (and listened to our lecture, of course) and then we walked to the Frans Hals museum (more Dutch 17th century baroque!) and then finally around the town where we saw an old windmill (more on that later) and several interesting birds.

After Leyden, we caught a train to Da Haag where we walked for an hour (it was suppose to be a 20 min walk, but I didn't mind the additional time) to get to a museum that didn't allow pens, purses, pictures, or people. Ok. Not the last one, but still. They were so strict and protective of their collection and it wasn't even the Louvre...oh well. I found at least one painting I fell in love with all over again, so it was all worth it. ;)

Even though we were exhausted by this point, six of us decided to return to Leyden and visit the windmill we'd passed earlier in the day. We arrived 15 minutes before it closed, but were able to scale the several flights of steep Dutch stairs (I felt like I was climbing a latter...) all the way to the top and back down (which was really freaky) in 10 minutes. Olympic training.

By the time we made it back to our hotel I was struggling to stay awake, so I watched the Dog Whisperer and Ancient X-Files (who knew Joan of Arc wasn't burned at the stake?) on National Geographic. It was almost too adventurous for me...

Random note before I end: Holland farmland reminds me of Idaho farmland (minus the irrigation pipes) more than any other area in Europe has. I do wish we had Holland's delicate canals cutting gracefully through the fields, however, because it looks so awesome to see a field with a random line of boats in it. Makes me happy :)