Around the Netherlands in 80 Hours

Having spent 3 days covering 4 cities, I think I've had a pretty nice overview of the Netherlands! Monday-Rotterdam
Tuesday-Amsterdam
Today- The Hague and Delft (and Kinderdijk!)

So let's begin. Rotterdam. The second largest port in the world, according to Marjorie. I guess I believe it too since it has a really long waterfront, however I haven't really seen that many barges since being here. Who knows. To start off my day, I went to Delfhaven, where the Pilgrims left their church for England on the Speedwell in 1620. I looked around the church in awe since I am related to one of the Mayflower Pilgrims and one of those who remained behind in Holland. Of course, having been to Plymouth Rock in MA, it was special to have seen both ends of the journey.
Leaving there, I took a long walk through the city, over the Erasmus Bridge, back over the Williams Bridge, and then to the apartment. There really weren't too many inspiring things to do in downtown, largely because it's such a commerce center. However, when Marjorie returned from work, we walked around the park close to her house and ate at a pancake place for dinner (they eat a lot of pancakes...imagine a cross between our pancakes and crepes). Now, lest you accuse me of not doing very much, I did walk close to 10 miles on Monday in crossing town!

Wednesday's journey took me to Amsterdam, using the commuter rail. Now, I've never been to Venice, but I bet it looks a lot like Amsterdam- canals EVERYWHERE! I began by visiting the famous Anne Frank house and annex, where the Frank and van Pels families spent years in hiding during the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam. The house was pretty inspiring in that it is just tough to imagine there could be so much hatred in the world that people have to live like rats! I'd like to think things are different today, with today's liberation of 14 hostages from Columbia. It's hard to tell.
Leaving the Anne Frank House, I wandered to the Vincent van Gogh museum, where I enjoyed some 200 pieces of his collection, including The Potato Eaters, Field of Wheat and Crows, and many others. It's unbelievable that he made around 2000 works (1100 sketches and over 800 paintings) in just the 10 years he was an artist! Such talent! It's just too bad that talent often goes unrecognized until it's past... Anyway, the rest of the afternoon, I wandered around Amsterdam, checking out a couple churches, finding the state house, and walking back through the train station (accidentally catching a corner of the Red Light district...whoops; yes, it IS sketchy at 4 pm).
So what could make such a day better? LES MISERABLES! Marjorie and I headed downtown for Les Mis at the New Luxor Theatre and it was very VERY good. It was great to hear that familiar music again and to hum along some of the lyrics, even though they sang it in Dutch. I'd even have to say it was significantly better than the version that came to D.C.'s National Theatre in '05! ahhhhh...

Well, that brings me to today. For today, I tried to hit up 3 particular sites. First, was Den Haag, or The Hague. If Rotterdam is the commercial center, and Amsterdam is the cultural center, The Hague is supposed to be the political center. I think I found it to be my favorite city of the three however. There was a lot of interesting stuff to check out, and so little time to do it. I toured the Peace Palace in the morning (home of the International Court of Justice and International Court of Arbitration) and went to an M.C. Escher museum (he's apparently Dutch..who knew?). So I definitely had fun in the Hague (I might go back tomorrow, we'll see). Then I went to Delft, saw the Oudekirk (Old Church), which has a 75m tower that leans some 2 m to the front....and it looks terribly awkward! Nonetheless, as long as it doesn't fall, I think it gives it a lot of character and I think I kind of like it! Inside the church, Antony von Leeuwenhoek (improved the microscope, "Father of Microbiology") is buried close to the tower, under an engraved floor tile, with a monument near by! Who knew?!
Now, I was going to go to the Delft ceramic factory, but I wandered around the center of the quaint old touristy town for a couple minutes before I came to the realization: "I don't even really like ceramics. Why am I here?" So, in the interest of time (and remaining
interested in what I'm seeing), I left to go find the Kinderdijk (or Kinder Dike). As many of you may know, this is the home to 19 18th-century windmills, used to pump water out of the fields, back into the Lek River. It took a while to get out there by bus, but it was really quite fascinating. As with any windmill, these involved gears, shafts, and paddle wheels, but these - unlike those at home - were not for grinding meal but rather to move water. Wind turns blades, blades turn gears, gear turns crankshaft, crankshaft turns gears, gears turn paddle wheel, paddle wheel moves water a monstrous 1.4 m up. Where are my Mech E's when I need them! Surely they could have got some better production than that, no? Ah well, that's what happens in pre-industrial revolution Europe.

Anyway, that's a summary of events here. I don't really know what I'm doing tomorrow, but Friday (Happy 4th everyone!), Marjorie and I are off to PARIS, via Brussels! Depending how things go, I'll try to post again before I return home, but if not, I'll be back on Monday, at just about 3.10 Eastern time! Can't wait to see you all then!