[tlug] Not seeing linked directory in localhost

[Dave M G <martin@example.com>]

TLUG,

I created a symbolic link (assuming that's the right term) within 
/var/www to a directory in my home folder like so:
sudo ln -s /home/dave/web_sites /var/www/web_sites

If I cd to the /var/www web site, I can see my link there:
dave@example.com:/var/www$ ls -l
total 4
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2006-03-23 23:56 apache2-default
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   21 2006-03-23 23:57 phpmyadmin -> 
/usr/share/phpmyadmin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   20 2006-03-28 13:35 web_sites -> 
/home/dave/web_sites

But, when I go to http://localhost from within Firefox, all I see is the 
phpmyadmin and apache2-default directories:
Index of /
Name                    Last modified      Size  Description
apache2-default/        17-Jan-2006 11:46    -  
phpmyadmin/             08-Jan-2006 01:02    - 

I checked the permissions on /home/dave/web_sites:
drwxrwxrwx 13 dave dave 4096 2006-04-03 18:35 web_sites

I think it should be readable.drwxrwxrwx 13 dave dave 4096 2006-04-03 
18:35 web_sites


Why can I not see the web_sites directory from within FireFox?

Thank you for your help.

--
Dave M G