4th of July in Leiden, Amsterdam

Happy 4th to everyone in the US! It is meaningful to be here on this day where arguably US democracy was born. Among the innovations that the Pilgrims picked up in Holland was the idea of locally elected representation. (They also adopted Holland's civil marriage laws... but that is another story.)
We returned to the old city, visiting an antique shop where Liz picked up a beautiful little porcelain watering bowl meant for a bird cage that dates to about 1600; for us it will be a bud vase and reminder of this place.
We took a walking tour of Pilgrim sites... visiting the Town Hall where Pilgrims couples went to register their marriages; St. Peter's Church where their remarkable pastor, John Robinson, is buried; the spot nearby where Robinson lived and twelve other Pilgrim families built small homes in his garden; and the very steps (pictured left) from which the Pilgrims likely went onto a barge to begin their trip from Leiden to Delftshaven to board the Speedwell. Amazing.
We also stopped by a second museum... the Pilgrim Archives (pictured right) which houses a higher-tech presentation of the Pilgrims' time here. It is located along the lovely Vliet Canal, down which the Pilgrims moved as they left for the New World.
After a canal-side meal, we decided to hop the train and take the short trip to Amsterdam. There we took a canal tour around the old city, treated with one beautiful sight after another (pictured left). This was the place the Pilgrims were for a year before heading to Leiden. They arrived and joined with other refugee English Protestants, intending to stay. Before long there were theological controversies between the various groups, and the Scrooby congregation (Richard Clyfton and John Robinson's) thought it best to relocate to Leiden. Of course, in Leiden there more controversies... not the least of which concerned infant baptsim and the role of predestination vs. free-will.
Some miscellaneous notes: The weather has been magnificent. Bikes are EVERYWHERE here; in Amsterdam we passed a four-level parking garage for hundreds of thousands of them! Tonight is our last night at De Beukenhof (beuken=tree, hof=house); our suite dates from the 1300's, which means it was old when the Pilgrims were here. My goodness.
Onward to Delft tomorrow.