The last two years of my life I spent in the beautiful city of Leiden, the Netherlands.
Picture: Nieuwe Rijn, Leiden, NL.
It was an amazing time for me personally as well as from the scientific point of view. I had the honor to work at the Leiden Observatory of the Leiden University, i.e., Sterrewacht. It was founded in 1633 and is the world’s oldest university observatory! The only older and still existing observatory is the Vatican Observatory. The Sterrewacht has a very distinguished history. It was a place of work of many famous astronomers, like Kaiser, Lorentz, De Sitter, Einstein, Hertzsprung, Oort, Blaauw or Van de Hulst (https://www.strw.leidenuniv.nl/outreach/names.php). Nowadays, Leiden Observatory is still at the forefront of the worldwide astronomy.
Picture: Corridor of the institute.
At the Sterrewacht I've met great scientists who turned out to be also wonderful people -- very helpful, very tolerant and sensitive.
I was charmed by the amazing scientific atmosphere at the institute and I've learned a lot there. Although I'm already leaving Leiden, I really hope that I will visit this beautiful city and its wonderful people again!
Picture: The Old Observatory in the university's botanical garden (http://www.oudesterrewacht.nl/).
Thank you all for everything and farewell!