Exploring the low lands...(part I)

August 2006 officially goes into the history books as the wettest ever recorded here in Holland, July on the other hand was one of the hottest ever recorded! Sadly enough we weren't here to experience the heat, but finally it seems like the rains have come and gone and the season of singing has arrived! So last week we headed out to the beautiful city of Leiden, the birthplace of Rembrandt van Rijn, one of the famous Dutch painters. This year they are celebrating his 400th birthday, I don't think he's still alive though. We really enjoyed exploring this place, the architecture, the rain, the canals, the pushbikes, the boats, little bridges, heaps more pushbikes, some more rain, poems on the walls of buildings, many shops, some dutch treats, more rain, a wall of books, and yes even more pushbikes! And not to forget... a bit more rain! Here are some pics we took:
Top left: The time difference between Sydney & Leiden, it's actually 8 hours difference at the moment. Sometimes it's 10 hours like on the picture depending on daylight savings.

2nd & 3rd picture: I've figured out where all the water is...Holland, which explains the amount of boats you see when traveling.
4th picture: Here you can see Phoebe before a wall of books made out of old wineboxes stacked on top of each other. This stack of books was about 30 metres long! Phoebe is in book heaven!