Sporadic highlights from Leiden.

Following my workshop in Delft, I have spent the last few days in Leiden. It's one of my favorite cities; there's something about the vibe, size, layout, and style that appeals to me. Delft drew to me in a similar way.

I have gotten a considerable amount of work done since arriving. Blogging for many hours, tackling my bloated email inbox, listening to podcasts, and resuming my Insanity training regimen. It feels good to have a lot of open time for getting stuff done.

It helps when "getting stuff done" involves sitting in the grass at a nearby park, the sun shining, a breeze to keep you cool, and an old castle wall in the background. Score one point for old European cities.

Some photos of moments walking about town…

Here's Leiden's protector, a lion wielding a sword.

The place where I was staying is situated next to an old bell tower. Every half hour, I would be serenaded by a catchy tune. While this may seem perfectly ordinary to a European, the notion of a functioning bell tower is utterly novel to Americans, particularly when they can play complex compositions. Something about its resonance filled me with calm. It was a regular reminder that, even while doing boring admin stuff on my computer, I was doing it in Europe, and that's worth appreciation.

Nothing grand to write about here. Just trying to capture all my photos into journaled form. While I do my best to abstract themes and build blog posts around them, this process takes time. Further, I can't always fit all my experiences into themes. Some just… happen, like seeing a bicycle shop with a penny-farthing over it.

There's not much of a theme to this picture. I liked the look of it, and took a picture. Perhaps if I had captured more such storefronts, I could write about the unique storefronts of Europe (this has crossed my mind before as a potential topic, actually), but that hasn't yet happened.

So here I am, sometimes using my blog as a typical journal, capturing the random and unsorted moments of my life. Hope they're not too mundane, or that these occasional diversions from a proper blog dissuade you (my dear reader) from continuing to follow this blog.