After waiting 357 days in West Germany, I finally had the chance to make a trip to see my old friend who is now at the University of Leiden, albeit a short one. Since it is only a few hours train ride, it was really rather ridiculous we had not seen each other before, but somehow our schedules never quite matched up. I arrived at 9 PM on Friday night and came home around noon on Saturday for my last dinner with the family of my sponsor here. The trip to Leiden was amazing. Saturday night we went into the town itself, which is full of Dutch, traditional brick architecture with a rather rich academic history. Over a few Belgian beers I caught up with my friend and met another friend of his from the department there. Of course, both of them are number theorists, so we had to give each other a hard time for not holding our particular areas against each other. If you were a mathematician, you would understand the humor. After a great night, we biked our way home, only to wake up a few hours later and head to the North Sea. I actually got to see where what is called the Rhine trickles into the North Sea. On our way back to the train station we went by a fish stand that was just opening up and starting to cook up some of the freshest fish I have ever eaten. My host guaranteed me we had crammed as many Dutch activities into 15 hours as possible. My only comment is that a place like Leiden is hard not to fall in love with for someone like me. You can bike in around the campus, the canals and all the way easily to the sea. Not a bad gig if you can get it.
There is a speck in the distance that is me wading through the outlet of the Rhine.
That is me standing on the sand bar between the North Sea and the Rhine ... wearing some very European swim trunks loaned to me by my host R.
A before shot of me about to cross the great and dangerous Rhine River, seen here behind me. I am thinking of selling my skin color to Home Depot as a new shade called "math white."
Me with the Rhine and the dam that keeps it to a trickle.
Me with the North Sea in the background.
The Rhine by itself.
The traditional dunes of the Netherlands that keep the water at bay.
More dunes.
And yet more dunes.
Approaching the dam on my bike, which explains the finger in the shot.
The last two bikes in Leiden after we shut down the place Friday night.
My old friend R.
Bricks!
A cool door.
The canal by the bar.
My one gratuitous clock shot.
A bit of Leiden by night upon arriving in the city center.
Awesome photo journal.
ReplyDeleteWith that skin - are you sure we are not related? Great pics.
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