I'm travelling these days is to Leiden where I am studying to complete my qualification in counselling psychology. I stayed at the beautiful (Van der Valk) Hotel Leiden last week. It is on the banks of the Rhine river which flows through Leiden. Leiden is a sister city (twinned) to Oxford http://www.oxford.gov.uk/community/Leiden.cfm So, these two beautiful cities are joined together.
Leiden celebrates the end of the Spanish siege of the town in 1574 every October 3rd. Everyone in the city queues for a city hand out of white bread and herring, which is eaten with the "hutspot", a stew of potatoes, onions, carrots, etc. Members of my class who reside in Leiden will be celebrating with one another, warming their toes, eating hutspot.
This is the city of my Leembruggen Clan. Leembruggen's still remain in the general area, around Den Haag. For those of us hailing from the East, our family started from Leiden in the 1600s and went out with the Dutch VOC to Sri Lanka and Malaysia and from there to Australia. We have remained connected despite the distance. My great Uncle studied medicine in Leiden. My cousin lives in Amstelveen. The Leembruggen family business of worsted wool was abandoned some years ago after a rather long, illustrious history in Leiden. The P Clos and Leembruggen factory can still be viewed from the Langegracht.
So, this Leembruggen returns to Leiden four hundred years later to study, to carry on in the family healing traditions. I am proud. I am a Leembruggen. I am Dutch. Woo-hoo!
LankBlue²
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