Who’s that boy? + Sinterklaas in the house!

Exams are nearly here and the last thing I want to spend time doing is getting my bike fixed. But since the damage was substantial and I had suffered enough walking around for about a week I decided to walk my bike to Het Warenhuis for a fix. To my surprise the bike was fixed in 15 minutes and for a reasonable price. As I made the journey  back I realized I had been on an empty stomach all morning. This in addition to the 40 minute walk earlier had left me exhausted. Thankfully, I remembered packing a sandwich with me and was now looking for a nice spot to sit and enjoy it.  Unfortunately there were only houses and shops around me and not even a bench was in sight. I had never cycled through this lane before but it seemed like a shortcut so kept riding. Then I saw an old couple sitting next to boats and I thought it must be a park. The entrance though made it seem like an office campus but I didn’t care and entered the campus. I came to a stop and began eating. A little while later I looked to my right and this is what I saw:

Hmm who’s that boy? It clearly looked like a tourist spot,  except it had no tourists which is why it took me that long to notice it. I walked around and found I was at Rembrandtpark!

Wow, I was in Amsterdam a few weeks ago and clicked pictures next to Rembrandt’s statue at Rembrandt (painter) square . And I did read on the plaque about Leiden being Rembrandt’s birthplace. Strange  I never tried to find out where it was in Leiden.  Anyway I was here now so took some more pictures (yes I carry my camera with me on most rides J ).

Apparently he was born somewhere in this alley, exactly where is anybody’s guess.

I can’t imagine other people being as ignorant as I was but in case you haven’t been to this place I strongly urge you to go there. There is usually no one around so it is very quiet and there are benches to sit on and have a conversation amidst history (and art).

Sinterklaas

Right so last week was Sinterklaas, the arrival of the Dutch (and I think the original?) Santa Claus. The science faculty had a visitor from Spain and it was the man of the moment i.e. Sinterklaas himself. He spent a while chatting and giving out presents to those who had been nice over the year. Then we all had hot chocolate in celebration! A friend shared a few pictures of this:

Must watch Movie #3

Hard Candy:

This week’s pick is a creepy claustrophobic film where a 14 year old girl (Ellen Page) flirts on a chatroom with a much older man and they end up meeting at his apartment. This leads to an interesting exchange with hints of seduction, nervousness and entrapment. It is a very well acted dark revenge fantasy which keeps you guessing who the actual victim is. Some jumpy scenes here, jumpy particularly for fellow males 😛

All the best with exams!

Shourya