I loved Leiden! We saw the botanical gardens and took a ferry around the city. All hte college students were dressed up in suits. The professors were very dressed up. The weather was perfect. I love the Netherlands. I am off to London tomorrow.

Glad you like Leiden. I have been correct on all accounts! So you like the botanical gardens too (the &quot;hortus&quot;)? Great. Keep me up-to-date on your trip. Glad it's worked out for you. I'm still bored at work.<BR>

Dear Eye Spy<BR>How lucky is xxx that you are bored at work. More kind than bored I think.<BR>Did you enjoy your home exchange xxx?

Pierrette and Bored,<BR>I was very lucky to have boreds help in my journey. I took the Stena Line Hoek van Holland to Harwich. It was shockingly not very rough. I then spent 7 days in England and 3 days in Scotland. The home exchange worked out great( it was my Dad's NYC apartment). When I got to England and realized how much our hotel was I appreciated it. more.

You are fortunate the North Sea wasn't too rough out of Hoek van Holland. Good for you. Glad I was able to help. It was rather fun giving advice on what to see and do and then knowing the advice worked! Pierrette, thanks too for your kind words.<BR><BR>

Eyespy if you are still around I updated my pictures on webshots:
http://community.webshots.com/user/actorz

Hi

I picked up this thread rather late.
Almere is a new city, started in late 70's, built on the reclaimed Flevoland.

I had a friend who bought one of the first properties adjacent to a shopping centre (which was his roof garden with ponds, shed, etc). My first visit was by ladder on the building site. Over the years it grew rapidly. There is a good train service to Amsterdam.

Other places worth visiting :

Naarden Vesting (Fortified island village)
Lelystad (Flevoland museum)
Enkhuizen (Old port on Zuider Zee with maritime museum)
etc

Peter
http://tlp.netfirms.com