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Holland on the Side Posted by Dale Dougherty, 5/23/00 at 5:04:32 PM. My wife and I visited Amsterdam last week on the occasion of the WWW9 Conference. I was pleased to have some free time to explore Holland. We spent a day at the Rijksmuseum, taking in an exhibit titled the "Golden Age of Dutch Painting." Then there's the canals, which can be toured by boat, but they seem also to provide endless park-like views on foot. We took a day-trip to the harbor town of Hoorn, north of Amsterdam. These buildings, like many in Amsterdam, seem to be leaning every which way -- not a straight line in sight. We also took a day-trip to Leiden, visiting the American Pilgrims museum. After dinner, we visited the raised fortress in the center of the city, and had this terrific view of the Leiden rooftops. If there's one bit of history I took from my visit (and I took away much more), it is that the American Pilgrims took part in the Dutch Golden Age -- when Amsterdam and Leiden were flourishing centers of commerce and culture. The Pilgrims weren't primitives, but had experienced a vitally alive culture before taking off for America.

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