Paul Smit  Mick Palarczyk | Features, Photos and TextTwo faces, one philosophy |
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FEATURE (Category: Europe | Holland | allseasons | cities | cultural-historical)
Holland: Leiden by foot
Holland: Leiden by foot
This feature is about a walk through Leiden, the city where Rembrandt was born (read excerpts from the story). Fun shops, restaurants and cafes are reported on as well as cultural hot spots. The feature is enlivened with small historical vignettes. Leiden is easily the most beautiful city in the Netherlands, and after Amsterdam has the largest historical centre. This has attracted many antique shops, allowing the city to develop into a veritable magnet for lovers of all that is timeworn. Thanks to the presence of the country's largest university and floating sidewalk cafés Leiden is also effervescent with social events.
![Smit & Palarczyk > [HOLLAND.ZH.LEIDEN 2504] 'Evening boat trip.' The charm of the stretch of Nieuwe Rijn between the Kraaierbrug and the Hooigracht is that there is no street along the canal, like in Venice. Photo Paul Smit.](http://paulsmit.smugmug.com/Features/Europe/Holland-Leiden-by-foot/2504-Nieuwe-Rijn-Leiden/16722252_jcyYx-Ti.jpg "Smit & Palarczyk > [HOLLAND.ZH.LEIDEN 2504] 'Evening boat trip.' The charm of the stretch of Nieuwe Rijn between the Kraaierbrug and the Hooigracht is that there is no street along the canal, like in Venice. Photo Paul Smit.")
![Smit & Palarczyk > [HOLLAND.ZH.LEIDEN 2508] 'Student life.' The charm of the stretch of Nieuwe Rijn between the Kraaierbrug and the Hooigracht is that there is no street along the canal, like in Venice. Living the life of a student here - Leiden has Holland's biggest university - is not bad at all. Photo Paul Smit.](http://paulsmit.smugmug.com/Features/Europe/Holland-Leiden-by-foot/2508-Nieuwe-Rijn-Leiden/16722197_8scZn-Ti.jpg "Smit & Palarczyk > [HOLLAND.ZH.LEIDEN 2508] 'Student life.' The charm of the stretch of Nieuwe Rijn between the Kraaierbrug and the Hooigracht is that there is no street along the canal, like in Venice. Living the life of a student here - Leiden has Holland's biggest university - is not bad at all. Photo Paul Smit.")
![Smit & Palarczyk > [HOLLAND.ZH.LEIDEN 2516] 'Antiques shop Klare Lijn.' Hans Olijerhoek in front of his shop De Klare Lijn. Although Leiden is overrun with antiques shops, he has always hung on to his own quirky vision. He limits himself to the period between 1920 and 1960 and has lots of glass, lamps, school plates and art deco statuettes. He is also mad about wooden archive and museum cabinets with their fascinating rhythm of drawers, handles and label holders. The window is overflowing with wooden electric appliances from the Thirties, full of wooden knobs, levers and meters. Could it be that this interest in scientific goodies derives from Hans’s own background? Not long ago he was a math teacher. Hence the name Klare Lijn – ‘Clean Line’. Photo Paul Smit.](http://paulsmit.smugmug.com/Features/Europe/Holland-Leiden-by-foot/2516-Klare-Lijn-Leiden/16722192_92gTP-Ti.jpg "Smit & Palarczyk > [HOLLAND.ZH.LEIDEN 2516] 'Antiques shop Klare Lijn.' Hans Olijerhoek in front of his shop De Klare Lijn. Although Leiden is overrun with antiques shops, he has always hung on to his own quirky vision. He limits himself to the period between 1920 and 1960 and has lots of glass, lamps, school plates and art deco statuettes. He is also mad about wooden archive and museum cabinets with their fascinating rhythm of drawers, handles and label holders. The window is overflowing with wooden electric appliances from the Thirties, full of wooden knobs, levers and meters. Could it be that this interest in scientific goodies derives from Hans’s own background? Not long ago he was a math teacher. Hence the name Klare Lijn – ‘Clean Line’. Photo Paul Smit.")
![Smit & Palarczyk > [HOLLAND.ZH.LEIDEN 2520] 'Café De Bontekoe.' Another surprise is Café De Bontekoe. It was designed during the turn of the century as a butcher shop and is still decorated with tiles painted in the style of the Hollandse School with Dutch landscapes full of cows. This venue is mostly frequented by creative forty-somethings, who deal with their midlife crises by all getting slowly tipsy here in the evenings. Photo Paul Smit.](http://paulsmit.smugmug.com/Features/Europe/Holland-Leiden-by-foot/2520-Cafe-Bontekoe-Leiden/16722169_e2WLV-Ti.jpg "Smit & Palarczyk > [HOLLAND.ZH.LEIDEN 2520] 'Café De Bontekoe.' Another surprise is Café De Bontekoe. It was designed during the turn of the century as a butcher shop and is still decorated with tiles painted in the style of the Hollandse School with Dutch landscapes full of cows. This venue is mostly frequented by creative forty-somethings, who deal with their midlife crises by all getting slowly tipsy here in the evenings. Photo Paul Smit.")
![Smit & Palarczyk > [HOLLAND.ZH.LEIDEN 2523] 'Café De Bontekoe.' Another surprise is Café De Bontekoe. It was designed during the turn of the century as a butcher shop and is still decorated with tiles painted in the style of the Hollandse School with Dutch landscapes full of cows. Photo Paul Smit.](http://paulsmit.smugmug.com/Features/Europe/Holland-Leiden-by-foot/2523-cafe-Bontekoe-Leiden/16722215_ZcQA8-Ti.jpg "Smit & Palarczyk > [HOLLAND.ZH.LEIDEN 2523] 'Café De Bontekoe.' Another surprise is Café De Bontekoe. It was designed during the turn of the century as a butcher shop and is still decorated with tiles painted in the style of the Hollandse School with Dutch landscapes full of cows. Photo Paul Smit.")
![Smit & Palarczyk > [HOLLAND.ZH.LEIDEN 2524] 'American Pilgrim Museum.' Jeremy Bangs in the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum. I have come to like this smallest of museums more than all the others, because you don’t get the information from information boards, but it gets told to you in person, by director/curator/collector/guide Jeremy Bangs himself. What could be better than a good story, accompanied by all kinds of objects, pictures, books and curiosities. There are no display cases, you are a guest in an authentic 17th-century sitting room where any Pilgrim Father would feel right at home. Photo Paul Smit.](http://paulsmit.smugmug.com/Features/Europe/Holland-Leiden-by-foot/2524-American-Pilgrim-Museum/16722078_jK2CV-Ti.jpg "Smit & Palarczyk > [HOLLAND.ZH.LEIDEN 2524] 'American Pilgrim Museum.' Jeremy Bangs in the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum. I have come to like this smallest of museums more than all the others, because you don’t get the information from information boards, but it gets told to you in person, by director/curator/collector/guide Jeremy Bangs himself. What could be better than a good story, accompanied by all kinds of objects, pictures, books and curiosities. There are no display cases, you are a guest in an authentic 17th-century sitting room where any Pilgrim Father would feel right at home. Photo Paul Smit.")
![Smit & Palarczyk > [HOLLAND.ZH.LEIDEN 2535] 'The burcht.' On top of an artificial mound, dating from around 900, stands the burcht, a 12th century fortification. It offers one of the best views over Leiden. Photo Paul Smit.](http://paulsmit.smugmug.com/Features/Europe/Holland-Leiden-by-foot/2535-burcht-Leiden/16722273_UUyND-Ti.jpg "Smit & Palarczyk > [HOLLAND.ZH.LEIDEN 2535] 'The burcht.' On top of an artificial mound, dating from around 900, stands the burcht, a 12th century fortification. It offers one of the best views over Leiden. Photo Paul Smit.")
![Smit & Palarczyk > [HOLLAND.ZH.LEIDEN 2536] 'The burcht.' On top of an artificial mound, dating from around 900, stands the burcht, a 12th century fortification. It offers one of the best views over Leiden. Photo Paul Smit.](http://paulsmit.smugmug.com/Features/Europe/Holland-Leiden-by-foot/2536-burcht-Leiden/16722157_migz7-Ti.jpg "Smit & Palarczyk > [HOLLAND.ZH.LEIDEN 2536] 'The burcht.' On top of an artificial mound, dating from around 900, stands the burcht, a 12th century fortification. It offers one of the best views over Leiden. Photo Paul Smit.")
![Smit & Palarczyk > [HOLLAND.ZH.LEIDEN 2538] 'View from the burcht.' On top of an artificial mound, dating from around 900, stands the burcht, a 12th century fortification. It offers one of the best views over Leiden, in which the late-gothgic Hooglandse Kerk rises like a French cathedral from a sea of low houses. Photo Paul Smit.](http://paulsmit.smugmug.com/Features/Europe/Holland-Leiden-by-foot/2543-Hooglandse-Kerk-Leiden/16722178_9nTUD-Ti.jpg "Smit & Palarczyk > [HOLLAND.ZH.LEIDEN 2538] 'View from the burcht.' On top of an artificial mound, dating from around 900, stands the burcht, a 12th century fortification. It offers one of the best views over Leiden, in which the late-gothgic Hooglandse Kerk rises like a French cathedral from a sea of low houses. Photo Paul Smit.")
[HOLLAND.ZH.LEIDEN 2520]
'Café De Bontekoe.'
Another surprise is Café De Bontekoe. It was designed during the turn of the century as a butcher shop and is still decorated with tiles painted in the style of the Hollandse School with Dutch landscapes full of cows. This venue is mostly frequented by creative forty-somethings, who deal with their midlife crises by all getting slowly tipsy here in the evenings. Photo Paul Smit. ![> [HOLLAND.ZH.LEIDEN 2520] 'Café De Bontekoe.' Another surprise is Café De Bontekoe. It was designed during the turn of the century as a butcher shop and is still decorated with tiles painted in the style of the Hollandse School with Dutch landscapes full of cows. This venue is mostly frequented by creative forty-somethings, who deal with their midlife crises by all getting slowly tipsy here in the evenings. Photo Paul Smit.](http://paulsmit.smugmug.com/Features/Europe/Holland-Leiden-by-foot/2520-Cafe-Bontekoe-Leiden/16722169_e2WLV-S.jpg "> [HOLLAND.ZH.LEIDEN 2520] 'Café De Bontekoe.' Another surprise is Café De Bontekoe. It was designed during the turn of the century as a butcher shop and is still decorated with tiles painted in the style of the Hollandse School with Dutch landscapes full of cows. This venue is mostly frequented by creative forty-somethings, who deal with their midlife crises by all getting slowly tipsy here in the evenings. Photo Paul Smit.")
[HOLLAND.ZH.LEIDEN 2520]
'Café De Bontekoe.'
Another surprise is Café De Bontekoe. It was designed during the turn of the century as a butcher shop and is still decorated with tiles painted in the style of the Hollandse School with Dutch landscapes full of cows. This venue is mostly frequented by creative forty-somethings, who deal with their midlife crises by all getting slowly tipsy here in the evenings. Photo Paul Smit. filename: 2520-Cafe-Bontekoe-Leiden |
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