'have fun storming the castle!'

today we went to leiden castle. despite the fact that it's right in the middle of town, you'd never find it unless you were looking for it.


(55 steps.)

i really wish this pathway were a moat:


(it goes all the way around the castle... can't you just picture some alligators and a drawbridge?)


on some of the shots, i used my camera's tunsteen setting for added creepiness.



there was this random bottle leaning against the castle wall. it looked so perfectly posed.



inside the castle:


a well!


(it's dry now, but apparently somebody once caught a herring in it, indicating that it got its water from the north sea.)



there were a couple other tourists, but it seems to have become a teenage hangout.



awesome view from the top:



this was once a bathroom:



i like to pretend that the castle is hogwarts and that this tree is the whomping willow.


in other news, tomorrow is our first museum class trip! we're going to the frans hals museum in haarlem. should be a good time...

later alligator,
b.

シーボルト·ハウス

philipp franz balthasar von seibold was a german physician who became a doctor for the dutch military. he was the first european to teach western medicine in japan and started a med school there. he also collected japanese plants, maps and other paraphernalia and married a japanese woman.


basically, he was an 1800s japanophile.

he had a house in leiden, which is now a museum called sieboldhuis. we went on sunday, since i'm somewhat of a japanophile myself. although not as much as sieb.


there was a bunch of stuff going on outside the museum.


there was sushi making...


...a calligraphy (shodo) demonstration...


...and an aikido demonstration that never happened :(


there were also lots of things for sale, like sake...


...teapots...


...and books!


the museum itself was pretty cool. it housed his collections of things, like samurai gear...


...coins...


...maps...


...and other random japanese paraphernalia.


this one's called 'the drunken farmer':


and this is an actual picnic basket.


there's a geisha exhibit going on until june.


it had some amazing photos.





in the kyoto dolls exhibit, we stumbled upon a concert.


weirdest. band. ever. the woman on the left switched between guitar and some kind of lute-looking thing, the dude in the middle would play random instruments that made bird sounds and then alternate between soprano and tenor sax, while the whole time the one on the right would blow into that thing, which only produced one sound.

oh, and the house also had this creepy 18th-century cellar...


...with an even creepier door...


...and a mysterious ceiling hook.


i'm just gonna assume it was used as a coat-hanger.

じゃまた,
b.

canals, kunst and kilos

the past couple days have been pretty chill. we've gotten lunch to go so we could sit by the canal and relax...


...watch boats go by...


...hang with the locals...


today, though, we decided to be productive, so we hopped on our bikes (people take biking very seriously in this town--they even get their own traffic lights!)...


...and headed to the leiden university library to do some research for art history.



on our way back, we browsed saturday market. i wanted to buy a couple of oranges, but apparently they are only sold by the kilo, so now i have a week's worth. there are all kinds of interesting goodies at market besides fruit, however:






sadly, leiden was unable to escape the clutches of americanization:


(there are also two mcdonalds, a burger king and a dominos. i am proud to say, however, that i have not yet seen a starbucks here!)

and it doesn't get dark til after 10 p.m., which is kind of nice. the sunset was amazing tonight.


on a side note, my best friend is currently studying abroad in paris.


i haven't seen this chick since august, so a paris trip is definitely in the works!

seacrest out,
b.