Amsterdam/Netherlands June 2016

Claire (Sakerfalcon), her sister Karen and I will travel to Amsterdam in the first week of June; they will arrive from London on the afternoon of the 1st, and I'll arrive from Atlanta the following morning. They will leave on the evening of the 7th, and I'll leave on the 13th.

I visited Amsterdam last year with Tad (TadAD) and his family, and met Anita (FAMeulstee), her husband Frank, and Connie (connie53) while I was there. They are interested in meeting again, as is Diana (DianaNL), who I haven't met yet.

Meet up plans are being discussed, and we wanted to invite others to join us, as I know that there are other Nederlanders in LT.

Frank is working the first two nights of June, so we can meet the 4th, 5th, 6th or 7th of June.
We could go to Rotterdam and show you "our" city, as we discussed last year, or go to The Hague to see the Klimt painting.
Or anything else we all agree about :-)

Hi everybody! I'm really looking forward to see you all!

Hello all! I'd propose Leiden for the 4th of June, my own alma mater.

Hi, everyone!

I'm definitely interested in seeing Leiden. I know that Karen, Claire's sister, wants to visit Utrecht, and I'd be happy to go back there after Connie showed us that lovely city last year. I'd like to see Rotterdam and/or The Hague as well.

I've been to Leiden recently with my bookclub and I think it's really a very nice old Town. I love Utrecht too. I really have no preference. It's all good for me.

Rotterdam/Den Haag aren't far from here, it's possible we'd be able to meet up with you there. And/or if you felt like taking a little detour one day over this way, we'd be glad to show you around here (Antwerpen) as well. :)

>6 connie53: Could we do Leiden one day, and Utrecht the next?

>7 .Monkey.: Hi, Monkey! Maybe we could meet up in either Rotterdam or The Hague, or, if I stay longer, I could take the train to Antwerp.

Well Rotterdam is only a little over an hour, so that would be slightly more convenient than the extra 20ish mins for Den Haag, but either one is no hassle to get to, train is simple and direct. :)

>9 .Monkey.: Cool. Anita and Frank live in Rotterdam, so a trip there seems very doable, especially on the 6th or 7th, depending on what Claire and Karen have in mind.

Oh, have you been to Maastricht in your previous visit(s)? Seeing as we're on a site of book lovers, I would be remiss if I didn't also suggest a trip over there, to Boekhandel Dominicanen!

>11 .Monkey.: I haven't, Monkey. We only visited Amsterdam and Utrecht last June. I'll keep Maastricht in mind, though.

We made a short stop there on my visit in 2008, before moving. It is amazing!! I've been aching to go back since, as we got there on the late side and they were closing soon, but we haven't been that direction at all. I think it might just be a perfect daytrip for when mom visits in Sept, haha.

>10 kidzdoc: No Darryl, we used to live in Rotterdam (until 2005).
Frank was born there and we both lived there from the time we went to the university. Now we live in Lelystad, but we are thinking to rent an appartment in Rotterdam for 2 or 3 nights, to show you our favourite Dutch city!

>13 .Monkey.: Hmm. These great ideas are making me think that I should extend my stay in Amsterdam until the 13th, and fly to Barcelona directly from AMS instead of traveling to London first. I haven't made any flight or train reservations other than the Atlanta to Amsterdam flight on 1/2 Jun, and my flight from Barcelona to Atlanta on 27 Jun, and my hotel reservation in Amsterdam is a refundable one.

>14 FAMeulstee: Ah. Thanks for that clarification, Anita. I'd love to see Rotterdam with you and Frank!

>15 kidzdoc: It would be easier for us if you stay longer.
We are not bound to the weekend, then we can do two seperate days, one in Rotterdam at a date .Monkey is able to come too. And an other in The Hague.

>16 FAMeulstee: I just changed my reservation, so I'll leave Amsterdam on 13 June instead of 8 June.

The Rotterdam visit is possible any day.

If we want to visit the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague, where the Klimt painting can be seen until June 19th, it could be any day, except Monday.

Such great travelling plans, Darryl. I don't want to leave Peet behind for two days in a row. I think I will go to Leiden or Utrecht with you all and if you decide to go to Maastricht I will arrange to meet you there. Maybe take a day off.

One thing I have to mention though, I'm going to be a grandmother (first time!!) in June (around the 20th) so if the baby is born I want to be with my daughter.

>18 FAMeulstee: Sounds good.

>19 connie53: Peet is certainly welcome to join us, Connie.

Congratulations on the upcoming birth of your granddaughter! That event certainly trumps any LT meet up plans.

>20 kidzdoc: I know, Darryl. But Peet is a person that doesn't do that kind of things. Perhaps he wants to join our meet up in Maastricht, but I very much doubt that. I will ask him of course.

>21 connie53: I thought that was the case from your comments last year, Connie, but I wanted to verbally extend the invitation to him.

>22 kidzdoc: I will pass it on, Darryl.

>19 connie53: Well that is exciting!
Very understandable you want to be with your daughter then :-)

Hi everyone!
Another Dutchie here.

Connie told her other bookclub this LT meetup was coming and invited other LTers to join. So, here I am. I'm not very active on the LT forums, but I'd like to come too, if you'll have me. :-)

>24 FAMeulstee: Definitely!

>25 Ennas: Hello, Sanne! You are definitely welcome to join us, whenever and wherever you would like.

Hey Ennas! That's a lovely surprise!

Hi everyone, I'm also interested in joining. Of the none-Dutch, I think I only know Sakerfalcon, but I like meeting bookish people!

>28 zjakkelien: Hello! I look forward to meeting you, zjakkelien.

Hey, Zjak! That's really very

Wow, Connie, you sure are jumpy today! ;-)
*waves @ zjak* Hoi!

I'm a little confused here. Is there a plan?
Do you want to meet everybody at the same time, or take a tour across the country and meet up with whomever wants to come to that city?

>31 Ennas: I'd like to hear from Claire before we make any fixed plans, to know what she and her sister have in mind (I know that her sister is interested in going to Utrecht). I'll stay a few days longer, and I'd like to visit Leiden, Rotterdam, Maastricht, and The Hague, depending on people's availability. I bought a Museumkaart when I was in Amsterdam last year, which expires on 25 June, so I'd love to use it to see museums in The Netherlands, particularly the Museum Boerhaave in Leiden.

Nice initiative!
I should be around at that time (unless anything comes up at work), and I'd be interested in meeting a few of you if the dates fit - I'm in The Hague.
I'd definitely be up for Boerhaave or the Gemeentemuseum.

I'm also in the Hague, and depending on what you're interested in, it has some good museums. The Mauritshuis is famous, but the Eschermuseum is also one of my favorites.

As for locations to meet up, I can probably manage all of the ones you mention. Maastricht is a bit far, but still doable (hey, it's the Netherlands. Nothing is really far.)

>33 thorold: That would be really nice, Mark!

>34 zjakkelien: The Escher museum doesn't accept the Museumkaart, for some reason :-(
(Neither does Beelden aan Zee, another excellent museum here...)

>33 thorold: That's great, Mark! I look forward to meeting you.

>34 zjakkelien: Excellent. I love visiting museums, so the two you mentioned would be of interest to me.

>35 connie53: Agreed!

>36 thorold: That's not a problem for me.

Is there any progress in the planning?

>38 connie53: Not yet, Connie. I last heard from Claire on Saturday. She is going to touch base with her sister when she returns from Berlin, and then they'll decide what they want to do.

They will return to London on the evening of the 7th. I'm staying until the morning of the 13th. So, if anyone is free and would like to meet up between the 8th and 12th, we could start making plans now.

I'll look to see what's on in and around Amsterdam starting this weekend. Like me, Claire is very interested in seeing a performance at the Concertgebouw, and I would like to see at least one jazz performance at Bimhuis.

We don't really have much going on so should be able to work it out for whenever works best for you. :)

Looking around I found:
On Thursday 9th & Friday 10th there is modern classic performance of "The Corridor & The Cure" in het Muziekgebouw aan het IJ in Amsterdam.

What if old age can be cured by magic? Commissioned by London’s Royal Opera House and the Aldeburgh Festival, composer Harrison Birtwistle and writer David Harsent’s new chamber opera The Cure tells the story of Medea, the witch who restores her father-in-law Aeson’s youth with powerful magic.

The Cure has been written as the companion piece to The Corridor, which focuses on the fatal moment of Orpheus’ backward glance at Eurydice. Created on one set by one creative team, these two pieces of music theatre are inextricably intertwined by their radical interpretation of two Greek resurrection myths. Performed by soprano Elizabeth Atherton, tenor Mark Padmore and London Sinfonietta, this promises to be a gripping double bill.

Maybe we could meet in Maastricht (if you still plan to go there) somewhere in the last week(end) (11 or 12 June)
Saturday the 4th I like to meet too. For me it does not really matter where you want to go.

>40 .Monkey.: Sounds good, Monkey. If Claire doesn't post here (which she probably will) I'll keep y'all updated.

>41 FAMeulstee: Hmm. That sounds interesting, Anita. Thanks; I'll mention it to Claire.

>42 connie53: Meeting in Maastricht on the 11th or 12th sounds good to me, Connie, along with a meet up on the 4th (in Leiden?).

>43 kidzdoc: The 11th would be best for me to meet in Maastricht. I will ask my son in law for some things we HAVE to see or visit. He is a real Maastrichtenaar and knows his way around.

And I think you have to pick the town to visit on the 4th, Darryl. ;-))

Either weekend would be OK for me - I have to go away for a couple of days around the 8th, but otherwise there's not much in my calendar (yet...).

>44 connie53: Why don't we plan to meet up in Leiden on the 4th, and Maastricht on the 11th? Now that I've been to Utrecht I would feel comfortable showing it to Claire and her sister (although company is always welcome). A visit there is the one thing that they have both agreed to do so far.

>45 thorold: I'm also interested in visiting The Hague and Rotterdam, which might be more doable after Claire & Karen leave on the 7th.

I'm off this weekend and all of next week, so I'll have more time to plan this portion of the trip, and the subsequent one in Spain (Catalunya and Andalucía) from 13-27 June. BTW, if anyone is interested in joining us (Bianca (drachenbraut23) and I) please let me know!

>46 kidzdoc: I'm in for the 4th in Leiden and for the 11th in Maastricht.

>47 connie53: Excellent! See you there. Anyone else want to join us?

Man, the cats would hate me but maybe we should join you for Maastricht instead, I really want to go! Lol. It'd be fun to go to more than one but since the cats will be put out (having to eat slightly earlier breakfast and way late lunch) I don't want to do it to them multiple days so close together, heh, plus they'd be sad with us being gone so much. But I've been in Rotterdam a bunch of times and only a single short Maastricht visit! I will have to chat with my husband and see what he thinks. XP

>49 .Monkey.: I love to meet you in Maastricht, Monkey.

>48 kidzdoc: >46 kidzdoc:
I could come to Leiden on the 4th anyway, then we can work out what else might fit in.

>50 connie53: Same here!

>51 thorold: That sounds great, Mark. I look forward to meeting you in Leiden.

We will fill in two weekdays, as Frank has two weeks off.

I'll join you in Leiden _or_ Maastricht. To be continued. :-)

Sorry for my delayed arrival on this thread - I've been so busy at work that I missed the link when Darryl first posted it. Meeting in Leiden on the 4th would be great, and I'm looking forward to meeting as many of you as can come. Sanne, I think I "know" you from the Green Dragon, and I've met zjakkelien there, so it would be especially good if we can meet in person!

My sister and I do indeed want to go to Utrecht for a day, so we and Darryl pick a day then any of you that can make it will be very welcome to join us. My sister is a huge Miffy fan, so we really have to go there!

>41 FAMeulstee: I saw this double bill of operas in London, with the same singers, and it was excellent.

I put the fourth in my calendar, Leiden is just half an hour's distance from the Hague.

>55 Sakerfalcon: Miffy? Ah, Nijntje! I can see why they picked another name for Nijntje in English, although I don't see where 'Miffy' comes from. Nijntje is short for konijntje, which means small rabbit (rabbit=konijn, 'tje' is added to indicate it being small).

>56 zjakkelien: It took me a moment, too, lol. Though my American self really was not familiar with her before, but I've been in a shop or two in NL chock full of Nijntje stuff, including translated versions, with "Miffy," so I am aware of both. But of course I normally only see Nijntje-titled things. ;P

>49 .Monkey.: Sorry, Monkey! Somehow I forgot to reply to your message >49 .Monkey.:, and I've been a bit distracted making plans for Spain. Do let us know when and where it would be best to join you and your husband. You had also mentioned a visit to Antwerp, which would probably be doable for me, now that I've extended my stay in Amsterdam until the 13th.

>53 FAMeulstee: Excellent, Anita. Let me/us know which weekdays are best for you and Frank.

>54 Ennas: Great! Hopefully you can join us in Leiden and meet Claire.

>55 Sakerfalcon: Good to see you here, Claire! I'm definitely in for a return visit to Utrecht, on whatever day works for those who want to go. I haven't made any fixed plans yet, other that the previously mentioned proposed meet ups in Leiden on the 4th and Maastricht on the 11th, so my schedule is wide open.

>56 zjakkelien: Great! I look forward to meeting you in Leiden, zjak.

>57 .Monkey.: Ha! I hadn't heard of Miffy before I met Connie in Utrecht last year. I don't think Dick Bruna's books were widely available in the US in the 1960s, when I was a young child.

>58 kidzdoc: Does not matter much, Darryl, as long as we know at least a week in advance, so we can find a dogsitter for Ari. And we can go wherever you and Claire want to go.
No morning appointments, afternoon or evening.

Nice to see everybody is so enthusiastic about this meet up. I'm in for Leiden and Maastricht. See >47 connie53:

>58 kidzdoc: No worries! It looks like Maastricht should be a go :D And yes indeed, we'd be happy to show you around over here if you come this way. My husband can rattle off all the history about all the sights like a right ol' tour guide hahaha. I would heartily recommend seeing it, but then I may be somewhat biased, I do love my adopted city! ;D

What do you want to do/see in Leiden or Maastricht?

In Maastricht we have to visit the bookchurch! And the St. Servaas that has a treasure room that's rather special. And of course the streets around the Stokstraat.

Yesss the Dominicanen is a must. Other than that I have no idea!

In Leiden I have never been to Naturalis (natural history museum), and I've heard the Hortus (university garden) is very nice, too. And maybe that small, unusual bookshop with all the english books would be interesting for you as well. (Zjak, Connie, do you remember where that was? Same street as all the others, wasn't it?)

The book church in Maastricht is impressive, and as a book lover you really should see it. Iirc, their collection isn't very impressive, but the building certainly is!

I am not interested in museums with paintings, tbh. :-/ But if you want to visit one, of course I can find something else to do, or pick the other city to join you. :-)

>65 Ennas: Yes, that was in the Breestraat. I'm not sure the selection is interesting for people who have easy access to English books, though.

>65 Ennas: Definitely the Hortus.
Naturalis is great for kids on a wet day, but it's not especially Dutch - if you've seen one dinosaur, you've seen them all. Boerhaave might be more interesting for visitors. The place to see Leiden jars. (And grisly bits of medical equipment...)
I've never been in either the ethnological museum or the museum of antiquities, to my shame. They are both supposed to be very good.
Molen De Valk could be interesting if you've never had the chance to visit a windmill.

Sorry for joining in so late, but I would like to come to Leiden as well, on the fourth. I'm looking forward to meeting you IRL!
Leiden is a nice place, but I'm not sure about all the museums. The Hortus is fine with me, and maybe some more bookrelated activities?

>68 wester: It would be lovely to meet you, Esther.

I love gardens so the Hortus would be good with me too. Any small unusual bookshop sounds appealing too! Other than that, I'm happy to walk around new cities and discover things randomly, maybe odd things that aren't necessary attractions, just interesting. And some good food is a must!

Good to see you pop in Claire.

Then maybe you and Darryl would like to see Rotterdam with us (Frank & me) and can we settle for a date?
We thought Monday 6th June.

We plan an afternoon you arrive at station Rotterdam Blaak, that is near the city library, the "Paalwoningen" from arcitect Piet Blom, the "Old Harbor" (the harbor is old, but most of the buildings around it are not) and if you all like it we could do a harbor tour (90 minutes) by ship....

Then finish with diner somewhere in town.

>71 FAMeulstee: That sounds lovely! I've emailed my sister to see what she thinks. As we've only got 6 days of holiday and we're already doing two day trips out of Amsterdam she may not want another excursion out of the city. But the ideas you've suggested sound really nice and relaxing and I see it's only half an hour on the train, so it wouldn't be too tiring.

I will let you know as soon as she replies to me. I'm very much looking forward to meeting you and Frank soon!

>72 Sakerfalcon: I hope hear soon from your sister, Claire

>71 FAMeulstee: I'm in for Rotterdam on the 6th, depending on what Claire and Karen decide.

>73 FAMeulstee: Karen says yes, it sounds like it will be fun. I've looked at some pictures of Rotterdam and the architecture looks really interesting. Thanks to you and Frank for coming up with such a good plan.

>74 kidzdoc: The singer/musician that Karen wants to go and see perform on 2nd June is Juliana Barwick. Apparently there are clips of her on YouTube so you can get an idea of her style. She's performing at a club so I presume it will be open seating.
As we will be going to Leiden on Saturday and Rotterdam on Monday we may want to do Utrecht on Friday instead of Sunday. But we can decide that nearer the time depending on how we are feeling.

Work has been eating up my life this week, so I feel I will have earned this holiday!

>75 Sakerfalcon: Great! Rotterdam on the 6th it is, then. Is anyone else interested in joining us?

I'll pass on seeing Juliana Barwick on the 2nd. Thanks for the invitation, though.

I'm fine with going to Utrecht on either Friday or Sunday, and we can definitely play it by ear.

Should we start to make specific meet up plans, especially time and location for Leiden on the 4th? Is Leiden Centraal the best place to meet, or is somewhere else better?

Yes! Real Plans! :-)

I think Leiden Centraal would be the best place to meet. Most people will probably come by train, and there is only one Leiden Centraal. It has two exits, though. Let's pick "centrum" (city centre).

What would be a good time? Maybe we can start with lunch? Meet at 1200, lunch at ~1230?

How many people are coming? Do we need to make a reservation? What will we do the rest of the day? Dinner?

>75 Sakerfalcon: & >76 kidzdoc: That is good, Claire and Darryl, we will meet on the 6th in Rotterdam :-)
We will plan the exact time and place later.

>76 kidzdoc:, >77 Ennas: I have to drop off my son at scouting first, which means I can't be in Leiden much before 14:00. But of course I can join you then. I can stay as late as I like.

Would it be a good idea to make a whatsapp group?

>77 Ennas:
OK for me. (Gosh, it's next week already....!)
Leiden will be busy, it always is on Saturday (market day). I suspect that we won't be the only people meeting at the station entrance at 12.00 - perhaps we need a flag or something?
I'm not on whatsapp, but I can give someone my mobile number.

I will be there in Leiden at 1200 . I know Darryl, Ennas and Zjak. (and have their phone numbers)

Swapping phone numbers is a very good idea.

I don't know about dinner yet. I have to travel back for 2,5 hour.

Meeting in Leiden at 12.00 sounds good. As there will be quite a lot of us it might be a good idea to book somewhere for lunch. Or is there anything like an outdoor market where stalls sell ready-to-eat food? Then everyone could choose something they like and we could find a place to eat. Of course this wouldn't be so good if it rains!

I think we'd decided that the botanical gardens would be nice to visit. I'm open to any ideas on the day.

I'm very much looking forward to meeting everyone and to exploring a new place!

I would prefer a restaurant for lunch because, well...toilets might be nice after travelling. I can pick something (based on location&website) and make a reservation, if we know how many people are coming. Suggestions are welcome; I don't know Leiden. Same goes for dinner, of course. I'm in for both, if we can have dinner pretty early.

Connie, do you still have your D&D flag?

>83 Ennas: I have no idea where I put the flag, Ennas.

>83 Ennas:
I don't often eat in Leiden, so other people probably have better ideas. There are hundreds of cafés and restaurants...
Maybe the thing to do on a June Saturday is to eat on a terrace by the canal (but it might be raining, and it will be super-busy if the sun's out).
The Koetshuis next to the castle is quite nice, but we'd definitely have to reserve with a big group.
The café in the Pieterskerk is close to the Hortus and has lots of books on the walls, but I don't know what their food is like (I've only been in there for coffee).

>83 Ennas: Ha, yes, very good point!

I'm vegetarian but I think it's safe to say that I, my sister and Darryl all like any kind of cuisine, especially Asian, and will be happy with anywhere except a steakhouse!

I think we'll probably be up for staying to have dinner too, but Darryl can confirm that.

My group is up to our eyeballs in hospitalized kids, so I haven't had time to chime in yet. From what I've skimmed so far, the proposed plans are fine with me.

Hopefully I'll have time to look at the messages in detail tonight or early next week.

Okay. So I read the whole thread again and came up with the following scheme.

Leiden June 4
01. Darryl - yes
02. Clair (sakerfalcon) - yes
03. Karen (sis) - yes
04. Connie - Yes - No dinner
05. Diana
06. Ennas (Sanne) - Yes -
07. Zjak (Jaqueline) - Yes - dinner
08. Thorold (Mark) - Yes -
09. Wester (Esther) - Yes - no lunch (joining later)

Maastricht June 11
01. Darryl
02. Connie
03. Monkey
04. Monkey's hubbie

Please confirm if I'm right or tell me if you are not mentioned.

>88 connie53: Confirmed, but I'll be a bit later (around 14h).

I'll be there in Leiden next weekend!

12 people is quite a lot. We definitely need reservations for lunch and dinner.

Confirmed for Leiden.

Info about the Hortus.
http://hortus.leidenuniv.nl/index.php/bezoek/ (there is a button for English!)
Open 10-18, €7,50

How about this one for lunch?
http://www.leidschbeleg.nl/index.html (sorry, Dutch only)
I love the name! :-D All kinds of sandwiches. Can you think of anything more Dutch?

And maybe this one for dinner?
http://catootjeaandemarkt.nl

I know neither of these restaurants, but the locations are fine, the menus look good and the reviews are ok. (IMO, obviously.)

Monkey is a no for Leiden, would like to go all the places :P but can only feasibly do one, with the travel back & forth and all, so just Maastricht for us. :)

>93 .Monkey.: Anyone coming with you Monkey? You talk about 'us'.

>92 Ennas: Sounds good for lunch.

Sorry, I will not be in Leiden, too large group for me now.
Frank and I will meet Claire, Karen and Darryl two days later in Rotterdam.

Con, wester =no lunch in L.

Me, Karen and Darryl are a yes for Leiden; I think you can count us in for both lunch and dinner. Sanne, the restaurants you suggest look great.

Karen and I will not be coming to Maastricht, as you guessed.

I'll be there in Leiden, for lunch and dinner.

>98 zjakkelien: Nice, Zjak!

>94 connie53: Yep my husband! :)

I've just seen on the NS site that there are no trains between The Hague and Leiden on the 4th and 5th. Perfect timing for us :-(
There are buses from Den Haag CS. Anyone who's coming from the south will have to set off at least one train earlier than usual.

I'm travelling via Utrecht so that would not be a problem.

It's not a big deal for me, either - I can go by bus via Zoetermeer, it only takes 10 minutes longer than the train would, because I don't have to go into the city. If it's a nice day I could even cycle...
It might be more annoying for the Belgian contingent.

>101 thorold: Zjak is not gonna like that.
I'm coming from the east, so for me it doesn't matter. We have our own train troubles...

I will make the reservations tomorrow. I assume Diana is not coming, as she hasn't been in this topic for 6 weeks.

>101 thorold: >104 Ennas: I guess I'll come by car then...

I made a reservation for Catootje (17:30, 7p).

Leidsch beleg doesn't do reservations. I think it would be wise to pick another restaurant, because they're very small and 7 people is about half their capacity. Any suggestions?

>106 Ennas:
What about the Koetshuis? http://www.koetshuisdeburcht.nl/
A little bit grander, but you have the bonus of one of Europe's least spectacular castles in the back garden...

The weather forecast for the weekend looks as though the meteorologists don't want to commit themselves yet: 22 degrees C with the possibility of heavy (thunder-)showers. The sort of conditions where you never know whether to eat inside or out.

Better be safe than wet!

>107 thorold: Looks good, but it is a bit out of our way (station-hortus). Maybe we can find something closer to the hortus?

Can someone else take over the lunch reservation? I have a few chaotic days coming up.

How about Grand cafe Pakhuis?I don't know it, but it looks nice. And it's between the station and the hortus.

Looks good, zjak!

>110 zjakkelien: >111 Ennas:
Ok with me too. Thanks!

Thanks to all of you for making plans for Saturday! Count me in for whatever the group decides; as Claire said I'll eat any well prepared foods, and I'm always eager to try new and authentic dishes, vegetarian or meat based.

Claire & Karen arrived in Amsterdam yesterday. I pushed my flight back a day, so I'll be leaving this afternoon, in about six hours, and my flight will land at AMS early Friday morning. We're all staying in the same hotel, so we'll almost certainly travel together.

I'm happy to give out my e-mail address and mobile phone number to anyone, via PM. Connie may have it, and Claire and Karen definitely do.

I look forward to meeting all of you, and seeing Connie, Claire and Karen again!

>113 kidzdoc: I have the mobile phone numbers of Darryl, Zjak, Sanne and Thorold.

I made an online reservation for 8 persons at 13.00 in the Pakhuis!

I'll go look for all of you in the Pakhuis when I arrive at around two, but it would be nice if I had other means of contacting you too. Could somebody please PM me their telephone number (privately of course) so I can call if I can't find you?

Thanks for taking over, Connie! Who is nr8?

I have zjak's phone nr and Connies. I pmed wester and kidsdoc as they seemed to be out of the loop. :-)

>116 Ennas: Maybe Diana?

She hasn't confirmed, and hasn't been here since april. I assume she is not coming. But...7 or 8 usually doesn't make a difference, so it will be ok anyway. :-)

Sorry guys, I'm a bit confused, just checking. Is it correct that we meet at the Pakhuis at 13.00?

>77 Ennas: proposed the station (city side) at 12.00
That suits me, and is probably also good for the people coming by train.

My train will be in Leiden at 12:07. I can take the one before (11:37), but with lunch at 13:00 this one is ok, I think.

How will we find/recognise each other? I only know Connie and Zjak.

I will be there at the same time as you are, Ennas. I know what Darryl looks like. And he knows Claire and her sister. They are seeing each other today. And Mark has my number so he can call me if there are too many groups there. Leiden station central hall, city/centrum side around 12.00

Ok!

Edit
The weather tomorrow in Leiden:

>123 Ennas: I'll believe that one, it looks much better than the forecast I saw :-)

I'll probably be arriving on the bus at 12.00. I'll try to memorise the profile photos I've seen, if that fails I'll call Connie. And if you spot a hesitant-looking greybeard with a turquoise Swedish backpack, it might well be me...

Looking forward to meeting you all tomorrow!

I'm afraid I don't look much like my profile pic(s). ;-)

>125 Ennas: That's a shame - you'd have been easy to spot in a railway station.
Another illusion shattered :-(

I'm sorry. ;-(

>126 thorold: LOL!

Leaving in half an hour!

Claire, Karen and I will be at Leiden Centraal at roughly noon as well. See you all soon!

>120 thorold: Ah, I thought she might have, I just couldn't find it back...

Ok, so you 're not in het Pakhuis anymore. Where are you?

For Monday in Rotterdam, I would suggest to meet at station Rotterdam Blaak around 13:00

By train from Amsterdam Central to Rotterdam Blaak:
Intercity direct direction Rotterdam Centraal (NS International)
Departure 12:10 Station Amsterdam Centraal Platform 14a
Arrival 12:51 Station Rotterdam Centraal Platform 11

Sprinter direction Breda (NS)
Departure 12:59 Station Rotterdam Centraal Platform 7
Arrival 13:02 Station Rotterdam Blaak Platform 3

I just arrived home after 4 hours on trains or waiting for trains. But it was worth it. We had a very nice meet up. Wester did find us in the end and we visited the Hortus Botanicus. The weather was very nice, sometimes even a bit too hot and the company was excellent. We did talk about books and LT and I was glad to meet some new LT-ers for the first time. Darryl and Karen took lots of pictures so everyone will have to wait till Darryl posts some of them here.

I'm home now too - I just caught my train in Leiden and everything else went smoothly.
As connie53 said, nice weather, a nice town, and very nice company. Dinner was very good too.

The Leiden group meet up was another great one, with seven LTers and one guest in attendance. It's after midnight in Amsterdam, so for now I'll just post two group photos for now. The first one was taken at the Pieterskerkcafé (St. Peter's Church Café):



Front: Karen (Claire's sister), me (kidzdoc), Esther (Wester).
Rear: Jacqueline (zjakkelien), Sanne (Ennas), Claire (Sakerfalcon), Connie (connie53), Mark (thorold).

The three Green Dragon members (Jacqueline, Claire and Sanne) who remained toward the end of our day posed for this appropriate photo:



Tomorrow Claire, Karen and I will spend the day in Utrecht, and on Monday we'll travel to Rotterdam to meet Anita (FAMeulstee) and her husband Frank.

I took nearly 150 photos in Leiden today, which I posted to Facebook earlier. I'll post some of them on my new thread tomorrow or early next week.

>133 FAMeulstee: That sounds perfect, Anita. I'll mention your suggestion to Claire and Karen when I see them, um, later this morning. (Time for bed!)

Thanks for putting up the first pictures, kidzdoc! I was probably home one of the earliest, but I didn't feel like going online anymore, so I'm impressed.

The meet up was very nice, and it was very nice meeting you all in person. Even though I live very close by, I don't think I'd ever been to the hortus before, so I even got to see some new stuff!

It was a good day, and great to meet you all. Thanks to all concerned for making it happen!
I'm sure Utrecht, Rotterdam and Maastricht will be fun, too - enjoy yourselves!

Hi Darryl and Monkey (and husband). I have a proposition for the meet up in Maastricht. If you are interested, my daughter (the very pregnant one) offered to meet us at the train station and drive us to Margraten, to the American military cemetery, for a short visit and then drop us somewhere in the centre of Maastricht. All depends on her not having the baby in the next couple of days. Her car will fit us if we are prepared to share the back seat with three persons. It's a short drive (7 km) so I don't mind squeezing in a bit. If we can gather in Maastricht around 12.30 it will be perfect for her.
In Maastricht we can visit the Sint Servaas church, Bookchurch and the Museum aan het Vrijthof


http://www.museumaanhetvrijthof.nl/page_foto.aspx?id=54

And then stroll around the old centre of Maastricht.

Do I need to make reservation for diner or do we eat something earlier before going home?

If we take the 10.36 train, we will arrive at 12.43, would that work? Otherwise, it'd be an hour earlier, or else an extra 45 mins on trains to arrive 7 mins earlier.

Do we need a reservation for just us 4? We certainly don't need to go anywhere fancy, haha, and for just 4 I don't think it should really be a problem? Though actually, what time were you thinking for food? With it being a 2hr ride back for us (and then grabbing a tram back home from the station) we can't stay all too late, kitties will already be missing their lunch and hungry! xP So depending how long we all spend out exploring Maastricht, Hubs & I may wind up just grabbing some stuff from the AH To Go (or whatever is around) to have on the train. Which isn't a problem at all, it's actually what we generally tend to do on daytrips out, lol, leaves more time for doing stuff. :)

>141 .Monkey.: Lets wait for Darryl to respond concerning the arrival time. We don't really need a reservation. If we grab something (not necessarily from the AH to go) we can visit a restaurant around 17.00.

Sorry, I'm just now seeing these last messages!

Your plan sounds good to me, Connie. I would probably leave Amsterdam Centraal at 9:38, arrive at Sittard at 11:47, leave from there at 11:51, arrive at Maastricht at 12:06, and grab a quick bite to eat in the station before we meet.

I'd definitely be interested in having dinner. I have no other plans for that day so far.

I will get the train you are on, Darryl. It leaves from Roermond at 11.32 and goes straight to Maastricht with a stop in Sittard. you don't have to switch trains there it just has a longer stop to couple trains. If you let me know where you are in the train I'll try to find you. If I can't I see you in Maastricht at 12.06.
I will ask my daugther to pick us up at 12.45 when we have met Monkey and hubbie.
We (or I) can ask her I nice place to have dinner at around 17.30. Monkey can decide if they want to join us for that.

>144 connie53: That sounds perfect, Connie. I'll send you a text after I board the train at Amsterdam Centraal on Saturday.

Sounds good. I haven't been to that station in 8 yrs I think, hahaha, is it small enough to find our way to each other easily? Should we exchange numbers just in case? I also just tossed a pic of us into my gallery, it's 6 yrs old lol but we don't look much different. :P

It's a smaller station. We can easily find each other, but I pm you my mobile number. And have a look at the pic.

Easy to spot, long men, small girl.

Hahaha yep! He's over a foot taller than me xP

I'll send you my mobile number as a PM as well, Monkey. However, as Connie said, I don't think we should have a problem finding you two. :-)

Last Saturday was the large group meet up in Leiden, with seven LTers in attendance and one guest, Claire's sister Karen. The three of us traveled by train from Amsterdam Centraal to Leiden Centraal, a journey that should have taken just over half an hour but took longer, due to track work. We met Connie, Mark and Jacqueline there, and Sanne and Esther joined us later.

Here's a close up of the group photo, taken at the Pieterskerkcafé (St. Peter's Church Café):



Front, left to right: Karen, me (kidzdoc), Esther (Wester)
Back, left to right: Jacqueline (zjakkelien), Sanne (Ennas), Claire (Sakerfalcon), Connie (connie53), Mark (thorold)

After drinks at a café and lunch we walked to the Hortus botanicus of the University of Leiden. It opened in 1590, which makes it the oldest botanical garden in the Netherlands and Western Europe, and one of the oldest in the world.

Some photos from the Hortus botanicus:

After our visit to Hortus botanicus we had a pleasant stroll through the center of Leiden, and saw several of the 100+ poems posted on the walls of buildings in town:

We had a fabulous dinner after our walk through town, passing canals, 17th century classic Dutch buildings, older churches, an 11th century fortification in the center of town at the junction of two branches of the Rhine, and a street that featured interesting outdoor sculptures, then walked back toward Leiden Centraal station and parted after a splendid day that was unmarred by bad weather.

Some additional photos taken in Leiden:



























Three members of the Green Dragon group posed for this photo:

I really love seeing those pictures, Darryl. I'm very much looking forward to tomorrow and our meet up in Maastricht.

And I did some research and you were right about switching trains in Sittard. But that's no problem I guess. It's just strange that you know more about travelling by train in the Netherlands than I do ;-))))

Thanks, Connie. I'm glad that you liked the photos. I'll continue to post ones from Utrecht, Leiden and Amsterdam in the coming days.

Ha! I certainly do not know more about NS train than you do! I've been relying on the NS Reisplanner app for my smartphone throughout this trip, which has been reliable and helpful. According to it I'll board an NS Intercity bound for Heeren at Amsterdam Centraal at 9:38, which will arrive in Sittard at 11:47 on track 3a. I'll switch to an Intercity train to Maastricht on track 3b, which will depart at 11:51 arrive in Maastricht at 12:06.

Hmm...I saw the prior edit of your last post, and what you said sounds right; it could be that part of the train goes to Maastricht, and the other portion goes to Heerlen. I'll take your suggestion and ask the conductor if part of the train continues to Maastricht, or if we'll have to depart at Sittard. Once I find this out I'll send you a text message, with the coach that I'm in, and its number if it's available.

The Reisplanner app indicates that the train leaving Amsterdam train consists of seven coaches. The Sittard-Heerlen train has three coaches, and the Sittard-Maastricht train is four coaches in length. So, it makes sense that the train will split in Sittard, as you said.

Lovely pictures, kidzdoc! You guys have a great day in Maastricht tomorrow!

This is for Monkey. We will meet my daughter Eveline at the back of station Maastricht. You should be able to get there by a bridge in the station that crosses over the tracks.

Alright :)

Good, you read it! See you tomorrow!

My granddaughter decided today is the day she wants to go and see the world. So no Meet up for me. It might be a bit to early to text you, Darryl and Monkey. But perhaps you read this message. Please go ahead and visit Maastricht without me. It's absolutely gorgeous to visit.

Wow, congratulations, Connie!!!!!

>160 zjakkelien: thanks, Zjak. It's a bit surreal to realize it's really happening right now.

Congratulations to you and your daughter, Connie! Monkey, her husband and I will still meet up, as you now know. I'm glad the wee one decided to come now instead of this afternoon in Maastricht!

I'm glad of that too, Darryl. Imagine us in the car and her having contractions on the way to Margraten.

Congrats, Connie! And hah, yes, at least the little one only mildly messed with things and not threw everything into chaos! Hahaha! So, we will just have to meet up with you some other time, when you can tear yourself away from the little one. ;)

We will do that Monkey! Some time in the future.

Congratulations to you and your family, Connie! I hope you have a lovely day getting to know your new granddaughter.

And Darryl and Monkey, enjoy the day in Maastrict! I look forward to hearing all about it.

It was lots of fun, and someone should make Darryl talk about his coin trick! XD

Darryl! Talk about your coin trick!

I loved the photos of Leiden. Keep posting some of the ones you take - that way I can do some vicarious traveling and visiting.

Here are some photos from our meet up in Rotterdam on June 6th. Claire, Karen & I traveled by train from Amsterdam Centraal to Rotterdam Blaak station, and Anita and her husband Frank met us there. Rotterdam sustained heavy bombing by German planes in May of 1940, which resulted in its near complete destruction, and as a result the center of the city is filled with impressive skyscrapers and other striking buildings.

Upon exiting Rotterdam Blaak station we were in for an immediate visual treat, as the cube houses, the new Rotterdam Markthal (Market Hall), and other enticing buildings were within sight.

The cube houses:



The Markthal opened in October 2014, and in its construction remnants from a previously unknown 10th century farm, along with a 14th century village, were discovered:



In addition to numerous enticing food stalls and restaurants, the walls of the Markthal feature the appealing artwork by by Arno Coenen, named Hoorn des Overvloeds (Horn of Plenty):





Muffins, anyone?



The Grote of Sint-Laurenskerk (St. Laurence Church), built between 1449 and 1525, is the only remaining medieval structure in central Rotterdam:



Centrale Bibliotheek Rotterdam, the city's main public library:



The Witte Huis (White House), a 10 story building in completed in 1898, which also survived the Rotterdam Blitz. It was the first skyscraper built in Europe:



Not my original photo of course, but this image shows central Rotterdam prior to the Blitz:



...and afterward; you can see the Grote of Sint-Laurenskerk in both photos:

The Port of Rotterdam is the largest one in Europe, and we walked away from the center of town along the Nieuwe Maas, so that we could see it on a guided boat tour:





Hmm. I don't think I could work in this building:



De Verwoeste Stad (The Destroyed City), a sculpture by the Russian-born artist Ossip Zadkine, which represents a man without a heart and symbolizes Rotterdam without its historic heart after World War II:



On the walk back to Rotterdam Centraal we saw several interesting sculptures. For the sake of decency I won't post the shocking one of Santa Claus. Instead, here is L’homme qui marche by Auguste Rodin (1905):



La Grande Musicienne by Henri Laurens (1938)



A heritage tram:



The Pauluskerk, the most unique church building I've ever seen:



This is quite possibly the trippiest apartment complex of all time:





Last but certainly not least, the stunning exterior of Rotterdam Centraal Station:



As you can see, Rotterdam was a visual feast, and we all had a fabulous day out together.

Aahh, that brings back great memories! Thank you for posting. I really need to get my pics up on facebook soon.

Very nice pictures, kidzdoc! I've never been very fond of Rotterdam, preferring city's with old architecture, but the buildings you photographed are very cool!

You do make me curious about the santa claus sculpture...

Ah, you mean this one? Wikipedia

LOL! I do not recall seeing that on my visits!

>173 zjakkelien: Yes, that one, later Darryl posted it on his own thread:
http://www.librarything.nl/topic/226367#5640157

My pics from the Leiden meetup are here:
http://smg.photobucket.com/user/sannehoo/library/LT%20meetup%20Amsterdam%202016?...
(I hope this works...)

>176 Ennas: Yes it did! Lovely photos, especially the ones of all the flowers.