Leiden, the Netherlands

We bid farewell to merry old England yesterday, and after a [beautiful] final 2-hour drive we delivered the rental car safely in Manchester. There we boarded a flight for Leiden; how different from the Pilgrims' journey during which they almost perished in the storm!
Our intention to take the train from Amsterdam was frustrated by a "fire" in the train terminal... no further details were given, but we opted for a taxi to Leiden. Our hotel dates to the 1300's, but (happily) has modern enhancements. Our suite has Bang and Olufsen A/V equipment galore... and a sauna!
Leiden is a beautiful city of canals and quaint streets, centered on an old and huge windmill (now a museum--pictured left). In climate and culture it is a far cry from the English midlands, and I cannot help wonder what the Pilgrims thought upon arriving.
Today we wandered the city, eventually finding the American Pilgrim Museum and its Director, Dr. Jeremy Bangs (pictured right), whose research I have been reading for over a year. He is the pre-eminent Pilgrim scholar in the world, and we were thrilled to monopolize his time for most of the afternoon. His museum consists now of three rooms in a 1300's-era building, furnished with Pilgrim-era items and art. It is quite an experience to listen to him explain the collection and offer insight into the 12 exile years the Pilgrims spent here. We were awed by the chance to see, hold, and sit on 17th Century relics.. some pieces that were antiques when the Pilgrims were here!
Among the nuggets I gleaned: The Pilgrims' good treatment of the Native Americans stemmed from two convictions: 1) Those that had pledged allegiance to King James now had rights under English law, and 2) All humans are creations of the same God. In the early 17th Century these were radical ideas... and they flowered later in the founding documents that we celebrate tomorrow on July 4th.
While at the museum, I sat down at the Pilgrim dinner table... where there was an actual fish from the 15th Century (note the loook on my face)! I also had a chance to look over some of Dr. Bang's research into a debate by Richard Clyfton (of Babcock fame) and John Smyth on the topic of infant vs. adult baptism... a VERY hot topic in Leiden and among the Separatists.
A quiet canal-side meal gave us time to reflect on the day before walking back to the hotel.
Tomorrow we will return to the museum and walk the Pilgrim sites in the city.