Leeuwarden

So we seem to be taken to travelling on weekends.  I've already talked about Groningen, and last weekend we went to Leeuwarden.  It's a very interesting city.  Very old!  I was taken aback by it's architecture; we were walking amidst streets and beside buildings you only read about in history books.  It's breathtaking.. and humbling.  It's weird to feel so... insignificant... beside a large building (inanimate object) but it's entirely possible.  It was there before you were even thought of, or before your great-great-grandparents were thought of!  I was blown away and speechless.

We walked almost 10km that day, but you don't notice it being surrounded by such atmosphere.  When we walked from the train station (side tangent: some public pay-for toilets...are scary.  I think I got traumatized after that. It was clean, don't get me wrong, but it was like a fucking vault.  I've never been in such an intrusive...washroom facilities. But more on this later..) for about 5 minutes and we quickly entered the picturesque parts of the city; it was like walking in the middle of a postcard.  The tall, thin buildings by the canals.. just like in pictures.  Regrettably, I forgot my phone at home so couldn't take any pictures.

The highlight of the trip was coming across St. Boniface cathedral.  Take a look at that picture.  We took a tour and went to the top of the tower!!  I forget how many, but something crazy like under 200 steps (it puts the walk to COOL from street-level to church to shame).  At the top, we even got to stand outside and look over the city.  Absolutely amazing.  You could almost see straight to the islands.  Their choir loft is much higher than ours by home (I hope you're not afraid of heights!), but they had pews/kneelers which was nice.  Small-ish organ.  Not sure of how many pipes (the man didn't know). When we walked up the tower, it was very steep (circular stairs) and entirely in brick.  The fascinating thing about this church was that it was built in 2 years.  Two years!  And unless I'm mistaken, the same age as COOL.  Amazing how they can look so different (esp on the inside).  They still use the same baptismal as they did when they opened in 1884 (in pictures/link).  We liked the church in Groningen better (not as dark), but it was still very beautiful.

We're thinking of going to Amsterdam this weekend, so I'll try and see if we can hit a church or two there.  I'm already scouting places to eat ;)  It's almost a city that's far enough (and large enough) that you should stay the night, but we're really trying to conserve money, so I'm not sure it's an option.  We'll see!

Hope y'all are enjoying the nicer weather.  This is our hot week and I can't wait for it to be over (Sunday).