The plane was much smaller, the flight was MUCH shorter (only about 45 minutes) and we landed just as the sun was setting.
Finally something nice for us, a beautiful Dutch sunset.
One more snag in the plans came up though. We got to the luggage belt after everyone, because we took a few minutes to breathe and rest before having to lug the bags around again. There were only a few bags still going around, one of which was ours. And as we're standing there, waiting for the other three, it became obvious that no more bags were coming. I was actually pretty calm about this, probably because of everything that already happened, and just went to the nearest desk to ask what we do. We were directed to an office, and a very nice lady assured us that the airline probably just put them on a later flight and they would arrive in the country in 24 hours. We decided to have them delivered to our apartment in Maastricht, instead of our B&B in Leiden. Because of this, the bags not arriving was actually the best thing that could have happened. It was annoying only having a third of our stuff for three days (somehow, with all the planning, I managed to pack mostly summer clothes in the one suitcase we got, I obviously haven't travelled much) but it was worth it.
Once we got off our train and started walking to our B&B, it became obvious that there was no way we could have dragged 4 large suitcases and 4 carry on bags on that walk. Cobblestone streets are not your friend when you're pulling suitcases along.
So we found our B&B, by some very good navigating by Michel. The streets appeared to be largely unlabeled (we now think we probably just missed the signs, a lot of them are very small and high up on the buildings themselves, not on posts like ours in Canada) but we found it and were very nicely greeted by one of our hosts.
It was about 7pm by this time (we're 6 hours ahead of Canada now) and we had to decide between showers and food. In the end we showered and then got food, which was the right choice. We chose an Italian restaurant, figuring the menu would be fairly recognizable, and ventured in. I'll be honest, that first dinner made me really weary about going into restaurants. It wasn't unpleasant, and yes, almost everyone speaks English, but it was unsettling not knowing the language. I still feel uncomfortable having to say "sorry, English please?" every time we go anywhere.
We both slept REALLY well that night. The complete exhaustion probably helped, but the bed was really comfortable too. And we each had our own blanket, which is genius. We need that in our lives (but will probably stick with one for now so we don't have to buy a second one in our furnished apartment).
The next morning we had our delicious, and huge breakfast. Meats, cheeses, breads, yogurt, eggs, fresh fruit and freshly squeezed orange juice.
AND there were adorable hats on the eggs.
Michel tried the hagelslag (chocolate sprinkles) on toast, which is a typical Dutch breakfast food, and he liked it. I'm told by other people that it's amazing.
Because of the delay, we now only had one day to see Leiden (which, if you read any of their travel info, they flat out say that you need more than a day) so we headed out to see what we could. It is choc-full of beautiful canals.
We also saw the old fort, which was really cool.
It got built up around and is now in the middle of the city. Which means pretty views.
We mostly just walked around the town after that, seeing all the pretty buildings.
We also got to see an old fashioned windmill, which is now a museum. And it was perfect timing for our second beautiful Dutch sunset.
That night was new year's eve, but we were both too tired to celebrate. However, Leiden apparently loves to celebrate it so for three hours after midnight there were fireworks and partying in the streets. We said happy new year half asleep, and then had a snack while we waited to go back to sleep. Yes, we are old people at heart, and we accept it.
For anyone visiting Leiden, absolutely stay at the Pelgrimsplaats B&B. The location was perfect, the room was lovely, the food was amazing and the hosts were great.
So, after leaving the lovely B&B, on January 1st, 2016, we headed back to the train station and onto our new apartment in Maastricht.
More pictures of this trip - for those of you who don't use Facebook - are here:
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