We had booked a car so we could continue to go to places where Tony's family came from. Today was the big test as I haven't driven in Europe (driving on the oppposite side of the road). We had planned to go on a short trip to the beach at Katwijk-aan-Zee. This is where Tony's Dad would go & walk on the beach & then it became a hiding spot in when the Germans were looking for young men to take away to work in the factories. He was relatively safe after a few months as Opa worked in a Silver factory in Voorschoten that the Germans approved of.

It was just lovely at the beach despite it being quite woolly & cold. Parking is all underground & designed to look like large sand dunes to blend in with the surrounding dunes.

There were some lovely cafes along the beach ... small wooden open beach shelters, deck chairs & 3 sided shelters, along with rows of brightly coloured bins. We went into one of the cafes, and voila! the decore was very inviting, with pot belly heaters on the decking!

After we had driven back we went into Leiden for lunch at a little Italian Bistro that was part of the City Hall. This was again a delight as the City Hall bells chime on every quarter hour. Tony then went off to the Archival Centre & I went wandering around the shops away from the centre square, discovering a couple more Flower & Plant shops. I realise how much flowers & plants play a huge part in decorating here. The apartments are so small that these bring life into them. The shops have such a variety of everything & it is all colour co-ordinated.

Arriving at the township of Katwijk-aan-Zee.

This is the underground parking that is all the way along the beach & just looks part of the sand dunes.

Entering the beach, the little wooden shelters & folded deck chairs ready to be used ...

The beach cafe/restaurant with a lot of ambience.

Outdoors it looks quite Scandinavian - with the bleeched wooden chairs & pot belly heater

as I was taking photos along came a fishing boat heading home.

After parking the car & walking back along the canel to our Houseboat, we saw this dear little boat with 'Neetje Leiden' .... not a coincidence that 'Neeltje' was Tony's mum's name ...

Back in Leiden having lunch at the Italian Bistro in the Towns 'City Hall' before Tony headed off to the archival centre for any more information that he could find.