A day out in Leiden.

Today we had a rest from the hustle and bustle of Amsterdam and took the train to the beauty and tranquility of Leiden. The train was on time, to the second, at every start and stop. Not at all what we are used to!

We started off the day at the Museum Boerhaave, the National Museum of the History of Science and Medicine. What a treat! It's not every day that you get to see an original copy of Andreas Vesalius' De humani corporis fabrica (1555) to say nothing of microscopes hand crafted by Antonio van Leeuwenhoek!

Then on to the National Museum of Antiquities for a veritable feast of Egyptian and Roman artefacts.

Finally a walk along the canal to St Pietersjerk dating back to the 12th Cenury. It was here that I found my blip for today. I much enjoy Scottish gravestones with carvings showing the profession of the dead. I was delighted to find similar stones, all of polished basalt, set into the floor of this Dutch church. This one must be the burial place of a farrier; his stone is carved with an anvil, hammer and pincers, spike and a clutch of horse-shoes.