I'm up laaaaaaaate tonight. Went to sleep at 11:00, then woke up at 1:30 a.m. for no reason at all. It's 4:30 now, and i'm still wide awake. I hate when this happens! It must be because I have something on my mind right now that is just keeping my brain active. I don't even feel sleepy. I'm sipping wine, just finishing the second big glass, but still wide awake. Might as well do something to occupy myself, so here is the next "travelblog:"

When I left Amsterdam, I took a train south along the Ijselmeer, east along the bottom of the lake, then north into the province of Friesland, which was my real destination. I stayed most of the time with cousins in Drachten, and from there I would take a bus in the morning to Leeuwarden, my favourite Dutch city, spend the day, then go back to Drachten. I spent about half my time in Drachten, and half in Leeuwarden.

One of the museums I went to - the Friesian and Verzetsmuseum in Leeuwarden - had a spectacular collection of antique Friesian lace. I can't resist showing you these amazing lace hats. The first example seems, to me, totally ridiculous. In those days, lace was all handmade and this fine lace was extremely expensive. This style was obviously used for the sole purpose of showing off a lady's wealth. There was nothing practical about it:

This style was specifically named the "Friesian cap." It was a later style, and personally, I think it was much more attractive and functional:

OK, now I get to show and tell my favourite place in Holland. The city of Leeuwarden is where my family emigrated from in 1949, so I have made a point of exploring it. Turns out that I love it passionately. It has all the funky traits of Amsterdam, without the craziness and without the international flavour. The international flavour is wonderful, of course, but Leeuwarden is totally and completely Dutch and the people there are very different than the people in Amsterdam. They are extremely, extremely open and friendly - so much so that sometimes I feel slightly awkward, because I'm not used to that. I live in the South, and people here are pretty open and friendly, but nothing like these folks! And .... completely opposite of the Canadians I grew up with - so stuffy, cool and reserved.

Leeuwarden has lots of cafes and shops, canals, bridges, bicycles, brick streets and narrow alleyways and yes, even sex shops and "coffeeshops" where you can buy and smoke hashish. (No, I do NOT do that!)

When I got off the bus, I knew how to find my way to the main shopping district, where all the action is. From there, I remembered how to get to other places I wanted to revisit. I cut through a narrow side street that I recognized and took this picture. Here, as everywhere else in Europe, you can't walk far in the summer without running into a small grocer with all the produce displayed out front:

My favourite restaurant has outdoor seating. For lunch, I enjoyed a huge, gourmet salad with a wonderful mix of "designer" greens, some other fresh veggies, pine nuts and goat cheese (only 8 Euros - not bad, considering what it was) with a glass of Jan Hertog beer. This was my view:

In the center of this pedestrian shopping street is an old, refurbished cheese market house, which you can see in the background of this next picture.

The Oldehove was built a long time ago, but there was a problem with the construction. It is the Dutch equivalent of the leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy. It used to have a lovely spire on top, which toppled years ago, crashing into the city centre quite dramatically. A quick internet search will get you some old video of this catastrophe. hahahaha! Now, the Oldehove seems to be relatively stable, but it is definitely leaning over. The first picture doesn't really show this, but it's quite obvious in the second photo:

Leeuwarden has a river meandering through it. Here is a nice picture of the river, boats, and the Oldehove in the background:

Another shot of the lazy river:

This next series of pictures is about something I have not seen anywhere else in my life.

A long time ago, in Leeuwarden, the city built a place for men to relieve themselves in the city centre with privacy. In recent years, this practice has been outlawed but the "facility" remains, collecting leaves, twigs and rainwater that seeps out into the river. I know for a definite fact that some men still use it for its original purpose, after looking around to make sure nobody notices them walking down the stairs:

As in Amsterdam and all other old, European cities, there are many narrow alleys connecting city streets. They are wide enough for a bicycle or maybe a horse, but not for a car or even a small cart:

Here is the old central drugstore/apothecary:

Now for some charming old architectural shots:

That's all for now - it's 5:30 and I'm still wide awake. Aaaaaaarrrrrrrghhhhhhh!!!!