DC Happenings
We stayed at the hip and funky Yotel just a bit north of the Capitol Building. Having been here several times recently, we chose some museums we haven’t visited recently: the Postal Museum, the Botanical Garden, the American Indian Museum, the Hirshhorn Art Museum and the Spy Museum. We also spent time with Carine and together attended the open house of the Washington DC temple which was under renovation recently.
The history of the US Postal Service doesn’t sound like it would be that interesting, but it really was. From earliest days of a mail system in the colonies, to modern day technology to move massive amounts of mail. Airplanes, trains, buses, dogsleds and mules, the first airmail, it’s all there! Plus there was a display about baseball with some great artifacts. Oh, and gorgeous stamps from around the world.
The Botanical Garden holds a wide selection of plants from different eco-systems inside greenhouses. The most memorable was the Corpse Flower, a huge single upright flower that attracts insects by smelling like a decomposing corpse. We will vouch for the fact that it’s smell accurately mimics the smell of a dead animal. We loved the orchids and the cacti. In the outside garden area we found a Patrick Dougherty stick sculpture similar to one we saw last year in North Carolina.
The National Museum of the American Indian did an excellent job of explaining how treaties with Indian tribes were at first respected, but then broken, as the US government took land and pushed Native Americans onto reservations. It also explained how tribes have recently had a resurgence in teaching native history and traditions and are using treaty law to claim their rights.
The Spy Museum explained the history of espionage, the art of espionage, and gave lots of interesting examples from history, especially from WWII through modern times. Lots and lots of hidden spy gadgets. As a kid I had read about hollow nickels used to hide microfilm and I spent an inordinate amount of time inspecting nickels in circulation to try to find one. This was a super fun and fascinating museum. We were even given individual spy identities and missions to fulfill.
Amsterdam
Amsterdam has a series of concentric half-circle canals running through the city. The area was originally a swamp/marsh. In the 1200’s, the inhabitants first dammed the Amstel River at it’s mouth to control the height of the water and prevent the sea from coming in (hence the name Amsterdam). Then they started digging canals and building up moats as defensive positions. Later, all these canals made the city an ideal location for loading/unloading boats with good for shipping. Now the canals are full of pleasure boats and tour boats and make for a picturesque city. Here’s just a few pictures to give you an idea about how beautiful the city is.
Many of the buildings were built in the 1600’s and are now starting to sink and lean a bit. The builders used wooden pilings for their foundations, which are starting to rot as the water table recedes. Notice the trapezoidal window frames and uneven roof lines!
We ate some Indonesian food (OK, not great), some Dutch apple pie (quite good), tacos, kebabs, crepes etc. We also visited some of the world’s best art museums to see famous works by Van Gough, Rembrandt, and others. (Rijksmuseum and Van Gough Museum) We also visited Rembrandt’s house/studio which has been set up like it was when he painted there.
Oh, and here is a clip of an amazing accordion player in the passageway through the Rijksmuseum. I’m not normally a fan of the accordion, but this guy takes it to the next level.
Everyone is on bikes, especially now that the weather is nice. There are bike-only lanes all throughout the city and out through the countryside as well. There are huge bike parking lots near city centers, and special cargo bikes I have not seen before.
A short clip from our bike tour, riding through Vondelpark:
Haarlam
We took a day trip to nearby Haarlam, which was smaller and a bit quieter than Amsterdam but equally picturesque. We toured a functional windmill (reconstructed) ate a lambburger in an Irish Pub, visited the eclectic Teylor Musuem and saw Corrie Tenboom’s home. Yet another city and region we have found that we would like to visit again and stay more than just 5 days.
On Monday we are headed to Romania, yet another country we have never visited before. We aren’t sure exactly how long we will be there, we just know we are headed home from Denmark in mid-September. We will be helping with promotion of BYU-Pathway (education) and perhaps with the church’s efforts to assist the Ukrainian refugees coming to Romania.
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