Pilgrims in Leiden

Duchess.

A couple days ago, we took a day trip to Leiden. Dad mentioned it. It was my favorite city in the Netherlands. The city reminded me of my second home, Cambridge. Older buildings and bridges, quaint town, nice fairy lights, cafes, and wet. 

That's a Mayflower Hotel in yellow.

 These guys below were being cool and bottle flipping, and I was (unintentionally) being super obvious about taking this picture of the bridge and classic Dutch houses lining the canal. I wasn't being creepy. They were in the way.

It was a particularly cold day, so when we found The Pilgrim museum, we were all thankful for its warmth.

This is a hilarious picture. One of the only times you will see such a look of concern on Caleb's face. He did not intentionally do that face. It was cold. As you can see, we all have on interesting clothing combinations. This delightful taste of style was the product of us packing very light for summer weather. Either you take something warm and leave it behind, or you layer and pray. Mom is wearing a huge intimidating old English man trench coat that had been sitting in Tyndale House since 2014 when we left it there. When she first put it on, dust went everywhere. :) She left that there. I am wearing jeans for the ninth day in a row, (the only pair of pants I brought), and a wind breaker. (Weather forecast, Tori, its raining) Daniel is wearing a rain absorber and shorts. Well, of course both boys are wearing shorts. Caleb, though, he took the 'layer and pray' route. He always did take light packing seriously. (He was out of underwear by the second day, if that gives you any idea.) His outfit for the day was: t-shirt, sporty long sleeve, unbuttoned oxford, and all of that tucked into his basketball shorts, to prevent the wind from going up. I'm not exactly sure why the oxford is unbuttoned. Daniel and I tried to get it out of him. He would say, "I love it when I see some guy do something totally unexpected and weird. It makes me laugh, so I wanna see if I can get those depressed Europeans to at least smile."  

The Pilgrim Museum was actually a one-roomed house, built in the middle ages. Ironically, only one pilgrim stepped into the house one time. The manager must have been familiar with American tourists. The manager/tour guide was all one man, most of you will have heard of him. Jeremy Bangs. He wrote that huge book on the pilgrims.

You might be wondering why there is a pilgrim museum in The Netherlands. The pilgrims stopped in Leiden before heading on to America. And for quite some time they stayed there. They all went to a church together, and one of them is even buried there. I loved the pilgrim museum for 5 main reasons:

1)There was nothing younger than the 16th century.
2)There were no labels or signs. You had to ask Mr. Wealthofallknowledge over there. We did, and about everything. and he told us about everything. In full detail.
3)He was very personable. We started out just talking and getting to know one another, and without even knowing it, he was telling us invaluable information. He told it all so calmly and winsomely and conversationally, not like any tour guide I've ever seen. He gets bonus points for talking to all of us while enduring a cold.
4)It's authenticity. You feel like you just stepped into the 1500's. All candlelight--no light bulbs. It was five euros per persons, and he just pointed at this ancient rusty box, that had Latin on the side, and a coin slot on top.

5)He let us touch everything. No glass cases or barriers. A 13th century Bible I held. (That was my Yoda speak)

 This was where the person would sleep. It's a six foot area in there, which was super spacious back then. That long silver thing hanging on the wall is an ancient bed warmer. They would warm broken pieces of pottery in the fire, place the pieces in there, and put it in the bed. (no microwaving cute stuffed animals that smell nice)

 I tried picking that old mug up, but the wood bindings on the outside just slipped off (now that I think about it, there might be a reason why normal museums don't let regular people touch their treasures.) That knife is from the 16 century.

We went outside the building, (cooooold) and back into one on the corner, and this was a sort of mystical, dark awe-inspiring chamber. Since I was the youngest of the group, he let me sit in the oldest piece of furniture in the museum: a chair from Robin Hood and King Arthur's time. The 12th century. and the cushion was still in tact. Now that's a well made chair. (However, I sat in it very cautiously)

Apparently, we southerners weren't the first to think up such a wonderful idea:

About 18 years ago, some men tapped on a piece of cheap drywall. They tore it  down and found the original back wall and fireplace that you see above, making this the oldest house in the Netherlands, . Until recently, it was a butchery, and there were boards on the ground, to make the floor even. They took them out and discovered the original tile floor from the Middle Ages. Dr. Bangs then grabbed it quick and added it to the museum.

It was cool to see this little place of worship in this man's home, right next to the fireplace.

 The oldest artifact in the museum: a Roman jug. The reason why it's bad quality is because that corner was pretty much black, and it's amazing that the camera even got anything. The shutter speed was super slow, and you photographers know it is extremely difficult to hold completely still to get that shot.

I'm not really sure the importance of this, but I caught a glimpse of it embedded in the street and at first thought it was a coin. I wanted to just point out that you find a lot of these sorts of things in Europe. Little plaque's or signs, or buildings, even, that are super old and you know has some historical meaning but you don't have the time or connections (take that back, we have a friend named Google) to find out. I was trying to connect it, thinking about the history of Leiden. Pilgrims, University, Reformation, waterways, World War 2.

 Toilet, far right. Middle door, stairs upstairs. People live up there! I told dad it wouldn't be a bad idea. Stairs down to fresh water cistern, left.

Vaarwel from Duchess in Dutch-land.