Day 4

Leiden...Quite possibly the most adorable town we've seen so far. 

Brick streets, historic houses, windmills, and not to mention Bibliotheca Thysiana and Museum Boerhaave. At the Biblioteca, we got to see (and touch!!!) a Bible from 1479. 

The library was enormous...especially for being made in the 17th century by Johannesburg Thysius and still being in the original building. 

We got to see some mathematics text books, being the nerds that we engineers are.

It was amazing that the original glass was still intact. 

On our free time, we wandered through the city, and naturally I had to get some espresso! We found an amazing little cafe where I had a delicious club sandwich! 

After lunch we all walked to the storage facility for the artifacts of the Museum Boerhaave, as it is currently under renovation. Though we did not get to see the museum, we got to see a large sampling of the 40,000 artifacts that the museum owns. Being interested in the biomedical devices field, it was extraordinary to see all of the devices over time. The device that stuck out the most was one of the first dialysis machines. The curator said that 17 out of the 70 people who first used it died just due to the horrific methods of extracting and filtering the blood. 

A lot of the devices back then had many negative effects for the patient at hand. I thought it was fascinating to see the evolution of the medical devices. Also, I never thought I'd be able to touch devices like these! I saw a ventilator, some weird fetus like things in jars, and of course one of the first ape skeletons. 

We saw some old electronic devices as well. 

Overall, the experience was one that on it's own has made this trip the most memorable I've had. That night we found a new cafe in Amsterdam to try...Lucca Due where I got some AMAZING carpaccio! 

After food, we all went out for some drinks and had quite the time dancing! :P 

Day 3...Adventure Galore

 My alarm was set to 6am this morning, but I ended up waking up at 7:30am...much harder to get up after jet lag and sites yesterday than I thought. After breakfast of toast, hard boiled eggs, and apples, we headed out to the Amsterdam Maritime Museum.

The building used to be the location where the Dutch stored their military arsenal, along with the center being a location for trade. The glass ceiling in the center was placed within the past 5 years. It's actually causing the building to sink...2cm since being added.

The roof was designed based off maps by a famous cartographer of the Golden Age, Willem Blaeu.

The building next door was a former Naval building. Behind the Naval building stands the location of the EU meetings, as the Dutch is currently hosting.

The first site within the museum we visited was a room full of the some of the oldest maps/atlases in the world. Claudius Ptolemaeus was the first real map maker, with his map being designed in 1482. 

As can be seen in the map, there is no North America depicted due to the map being prior to discovery. Willem Jansz and Joan Blaeu, a father/son cartographer team, designed some of the first mathematically accurate maps, with the math being still used today. 

Due to there being only black and white printers available, when maps were displayed in homes, it really showed your status. If you had a black/white map, you were of a less wealthy class, whereas if your map was colored, you had the money to afford paints and the time to paint it. As can be seen, the maps are extremely intricate.

In the book we are required to read for the course, we have been learning a lot about the connection between science and art. A lot of famous scientists had to learn art in able to document their findings and share them with others. Artists of the time were asked to paint pictures of ships for the owners, sometimes with more flair in order to make their ship seem important. One such painting by Cornelius Claesz Van Wieringen of the Battle of Gibraltor, which was between the Dutch and Spanish fleet on April 25, 1607 in the 80 years war is shown below. The painting was massive for the time. 

In the book, we learned that many of the paints of the time were extremely toxic making it dangerous for the artists, who were unaware of the toxicity. Every time I saw a large painting, I couldn't help but think about the side effects that artist must have endured. The piece below was done by a local graphic novel artist for the reopening of the museum after remodel. The tour guide said it was a good piece to discuss with school groups as it talks about a controversial issue as seen in the upper right corner, the refugee crisis. 

We got to see some of the first navigation devices used by sailors, sextons, as well as board a replica of one of the Dutch ships from the VOC (Dutch East India Company). The living conditions the sailors went through on that trip were unimaginable. There would be about 300 men on the ship (20 of which were ranking officers) and only 1 female, the wife of the merchant. All of the crew lived on one half of the ship while the officers shared the other half. 

The living quarters for the crew men were beyond disgusting. They all slept on hammocks that were stacked three high and 10 men had to share one porridge bowl with a chunk of dried bread. Before eating the bread they had to shake it out to get rid of as many bugs as they could. The water situation was just as bad, as they had to use their teeth to filter the bugs out before drinking. 

 

When entering the captains chambers, there were many low hanging ropes and beams (a main one for the rutter). When turning to the guy behind me to tell him to watch out for the ropes, I ended up turning around to smack face first into the rutter beam...stationary objects: 1, Sarah: 0.  

After the museum, I relaxed some and read the book readings before venturing off to the roof of the science museum to get a spectacular view of the city. 

From there we ventured out for some AMAZING sushi at Sumo followed by a wonderful red velvet cupcake.  

The buildings in Amsterdam are beyond beautiful and full of history. One building included in that is the Old Lutheran Church, which coincidentally is where my ancestor Pieter (Pieterson) Ostrander was baptized in 1661. He ended up sailing over to Manhattan in 71 on the vessel The Spotted Cow...who knew it'd end up being the family beer of choice years later! :P 

On our way back, we walked past the Royal Palace. 

Walking back to the hostel, we saw some storm clouds roll in but thought we could beat them...oh how wrong we were! It even hailed!!!!! 

After drowning a bit, we decided to take one of tram lines to the end (number 16). It was a blast!!! We saw some weird buildings, the World Trade Center, had a delicious Popsicle, and bought some wine. 

Naturally we went out that night for drinks and the city was yet again beautiful! Going to bed late definitely made waking up the next morning a challenge, but it was oh so worth it!

Day 1...or is it 2?

12:45PM...when we were to arrive at O'hare. Jason dropped me off, with a brief but DELICIOUS pit stop at TBK (Taco Burrito King!!!), accompanied by hugs and many tears. After two hours of standing in lines, first boarding passes and then security, we made it to our gate with minutes to spare. When I got on the flight, it appeared I had a section (2 seats) to myself! Soon after, a couple got on and asked if I'd switch spots with them and sit at the window 2 rows up...heck yeah! The lady I was now sitting next to was traveling to France for a family reunion/2 week vacation followed by a week in Barcelona. After getting her whole life story...naturally...and finding out she was born and raised in Chicago, we chatted a bit about my travel and post college plans. She thought I would like Madison more than the job offer in Chicago due to the scenery and local parks. When the drink cart came by, she bought 2 bottles of Prosecco (airplane sized). She offered me some and it was delicious...she even tried to give me one of the bottles!

 After we got fed a decent meal (stuffed pasta, fruit, and a salad) I crashed hard for a solid 5 hours. I woke up as we were landing in Dublin! We had a 1.5 hour layover in Dublin where I got a DELICIOUS sweet potato and feta cheese taste, then we were off to Amsterdam!

I fell asleep within minutes on that flight too. When we arrived in Amsterdam, I could not believe how much I fell in love with the city. Everyone was so chill (weed being legal may have been a factor), rode bikes EVERYWHERE, yet still had a fast paced life. 

We went to Leidseplein and had some free time to explore, while waiting for our rooms to be ready. Tom, Anton and I went to an artisan cheese store, walked past some "coffee shops" and saw quite a few house boats near the house boat museum. 

 

 

Not to mention, I had the BEST croissant I've had in my whole life! It was chocolate filled with chocolate on top. Anton can vouch for it's quality. 

After getting our rooms, a group of us went out to one of the cafe's on the main square of Leidseplein. Steven and I got a smoked salmon sand which that was to die for!

After journeying back to the hostel, we had a drink at the bar (wine for me!) and headed off to bed. Tomorrow's adventure includes a Marritime museum, reading 99 pages of a book, and more exploring! I am so excited to be here! Oh, awesome fact...our hostel can only be reached via ferry!!!

I can't wait to explore more tomorrow!! Off to bed for this Jett lagged, wanderlust consumed adventurer! Xoxo