First Days in Leiden

A quick overnight flight from Portland to Amsterdam, nonstop smiles and a few zzzs.  The night was quick, not the flight. 

After an afternoon nap, a first walk in Leiden.

Dinner at Karalis, an Italian restaurant with great pizza.

Buying feitsen at Gijs 2e Hands Fietsen. 

Who knew that you needed feits to get around in Holland?  I thought we just needed some bikes. Four functioning feitsen made us feel like natives.  And then we rode away from the shop: between all the pedestrians, the thousands of other bikers, European car drivers, the narrow and sometimes cobblestone streets, I felt like an uncoordinated American having an anxiety attack.  Maybe it was just the newly purchased, wobbly Grannybike.  Or maybe the fact that we are the only bikers wearing helmets -- even the babies riding in handlebar seats are bare-headed.  It does feel good to be liberated from the car:  We need only our bikes, the trains and buses to easily get anywhere in the country.