{"id":4660,"date":"2018-11-25T18:01:42","date_gmt":"2018-11-25T17:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/martin\/?p=4660"},"modified":"2018-11-25T18:01:42","modified_gmt":"2018-11-25T17:01:42","slug":"leeuwarden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sunpig.com\/martin\/2018\/11\/25\/leeuwarden\/","title":{"rendered":"Leeuwarden"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Looking<\/a><\/p>\n

Abi and I took a wee break in Leeuwarden<\/a> (Ljouwert, Liwadden, <\/a>City of 100 Names, European Capital of Culture 2018<\/a>) over the weekend of 10\/11 November. We drove north and over the Afsluitdijk<\/a> on Friday evening, and we stayed two nights at the Van Ver Valk Hotel Hardegarijp<\/a>, in the village of Hurdegaryp<\/a> (part of gemeente Tytsjerksteradiel<\/a>). Frisian spelling and place names are quite<\/em> different from those in the area around Amsterdam.<\/p>\n

On Saturday we went in to Leeuwarden city in the morning, parked near Hoeksterend, and walked into the centre. It was around 11:00, but the city still felt very quiet. It woke up as we got closer to the centre.<\/p>\n

\"Young<\/a><\/p>\n

We didn’t have any particular plans, but I had noticed that there was a branch of Kamera Express<\/a> somewhere in town, and we happened to bump into it on our walk. I had been hoping we’d pass it, because I wanted to show Abi the Think Tank<\/a> camera bags I’ve been lusting after. Kamera Express had a special offer on Retrospective (v1) series<\/a>, and Abi decided to buy me an early birthday present in the form of a gorgeous Retrospective 7<\/a> bag. It’s amazing<\/em>. It has pockets everywhere<\/em>, and smart movable internal dividers that give it rigidity and allow you to customize it to fit your particular gear.<\/p>\n

\"Think<\/p>\n

The Troop London<\/a> bag I bought four years ago<\/a> was nice \u2014 I do love a canvas messenger bag \u2014\u00a0but it didn’t last very well. When I bought my Spikes and Sparrow leather bag a couple of years ago I thought it would replace this one completely. Turns out I have space in my life for more than one bag, though. I like keeping my leather bad mostly packed and ready for my UK trips, so all I have to do is drop my laptop in and go. The Troop bag is smaller, and I’ve kept it around for casual everyday use. But its seams are disintegrating. It’s time for it to retire to a bag farm upstate.<\/p>\n

\"Disintegrating<\/p>\n

We had lunch at a cafe near the station. In the afternoon we visited an exhibit of Jorrit van de Waal’s<\/a> Mechanimal Life. We saw his dachshunds, heron, bumblebee, and tarsier. The pieces were playful and delightful. Unfortunately the art centre was suffering from a power cut, so we didn’t get to see the animals in motion – the dachshunds wagging their tails, for example:<\/p>\n