I'm trying to think when I first "discovered" Leiden. Of course neither me nor the New York Times discovered Leiden. It's been there for a long time before us. I think I first went around '96 or '97.
I had some interesting accommodation on one of my visits. It was a former orphanage, dating back to the 18th or early 19th century I'd guess. Round by Pieterskerk in the old part of town, if anyone knows Leiden. It was completely original and unrestored in places. The kitchen looked like it was from a previous century. I stayed in a big, square ground floor room, sleeping on the floor. My Scottish friend was subletting for a few months while the actual tenant was away travelling the world. I'm not sure how rent and ownership worked actually, as it was a former squat which had passed into the squatters' hands by virtue of law that existed in The Netherlands at the time. The tenant had a great stereo and a huge collection of cassettes, even after most people moved to CD. I had heard Fela Kuti before, but this guy had all Fela's records on cassette and I have fond memories of getting up in the morning and grooving around the room to Shakara or Gentleman. My friend was labouring on a building project at an old house a block or so away, so I had the run of the place while he was at work. There was a lovely, ancient, overgrown garden to the rear, filled with piles of scrap fiets. There was another huge pile of less rusty communal bikes in the hallway for one to use as desired. The guy in the room next door (also Scottish) was carving a dugout canoe in his bedroom. He'd been working on it for a couple of years and it was only halfway done.
Not very tied to the topic at hand I know, but a little flavour of my Leiden experience. I stayed for about three weeks on one trip, with subsequent visits out from Amsterdam.
