Sunday, May 29, 2016

Jewish Synagogues and Jewish History

Yesterday we went to one of my highest priority attractions in Amsterdam. This location, which was very dear to my heart, was the Jewish Historical Center.The museum included information about when the Jews first starting migrating to Amsterdam, their activities and the synagogues they built here, the role in society and the trades they practiced here, their struggles during the Nazi occupation, all the way to the Jew's weary return to Amsterdam post-WWII. The information was extremely well organized and almost every turn included yet another piece of the accompanying audio guide that greatly expanded on the artifacts they had and the history behind each paining, each document, and each siddur they possessed. In fact, I took so many photos of the place, i.e. I do not think there is a singular corner of the museum that I was not able to capture (with the exception of this smaller Amy Winehouse exhibit, in which I was forbidden to take photos). I will include most of them, I was going to caption them, but there is just so many. In fact, if you want to know what anything is specifically that does not have the information about it in the next picture, just contact me or leave a comment. Well, here they are.




Saturday, May 28, 2016

Holy Places and Holy Things

Recently, I went to the Museum Ons'Lieve Heer Op Solder, (which in a more pleasant, pronounceable name is called the Lord of Our Attic Museum). The Lord of Our Attic Museum was initially very interesting and only got more interesting as you explored the 17th century canal house that had hidden a fantastic Catholic Church in its attic. Outside of purely religious objects and the church itself, the museum offered a glimpse into the everyday life of the 17th century Dutch. The house had in fact been three houses that were all purchased and combined by one wealthy man who sought to create a place of worship in the predominantly protestant Dutch Republic. From its grand entrance, to its winding staircases, to the surprisingly ornate altar, the house was full of fascinating religious objects that seemed out of place with what was otherwise a simple, yet large canal house. In short, the Lord of Our Attic Museum showcased the tolerance of the Dutch Republic even in the 1600s. The church was known about, and yet it was allowed to exist. The only caveat to any practicing religion in the Netherlands was that if they were adherents to any faith but Protestantism, they only had to be subtle enough to keep their places of worship from appearing as places of worship from the street. Tolerance was therefore granted to those who were willing to follow that simple, singular rule.

(photos from the Our Lord of the Attic)

A model of the three canal houses that were combined to make the
 church in the attic, as seen from the street

The Back of the same model 

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Missing Baggage and Missing Customer Service

Opposed to last time where the project was undertaken only by me, this time I stated my journey with a friend who would be completing his own research project in the Netherlands. The very first day of the beginning of our travels started off with a fun caveat. In order to get to our final location of Amsterdam, we had to take a flight to Philadelphia first. Well, day one, that did not happen. We arrived at the airport just before noon to ensure that we would be there well ahead of our 3:45pm departure. After sitting at the gate that was seemingly devoid of all other people for about three hours, we were alerted to our plane being cancelled by the word "cancelled" just appearing beneath our gate's departure information. As soon as we found out that the flight had been cancelled, we quickly went over to talk to the American Airlines personnel to ask about what we were supposed to do being that our flight had been suddenly cancelled. My friend was the first to call the number we were handed to talk to AA's customer service, he was essentially told an unconvincing "sorry" and that our flight had been cancelled due to maintenance. A story that neither of us believed being that our plane was already sitting at the gate, the same gate that was empty without the two of us. Therefore, our little hypothesis is that the flight was cancelled due to low occupancy, i.e. that would have been a private flight for two coach passengers. In any case, we were told there were no other flights to Philadelphia, and that we would have to come back tomorrow. Incredibly annoyed, we both called our parents to get picked up, unfortunately to start the obnoxious series of airport events anew tomorrow. Before we left however, we did do two things. Most importantly, we asked about our checked bags and were told not to worry about them, they will meet us in Amsterdam despite our growing distrust of American Airlines, and since we were waiting there anyways for our rides, I called American Airline's customer service myself to complain. My complaining got us promises of American Airlines vouchers for both of us, which after a second call to make sure they were coming on Tuesday morning, have still not been received.

Me in Dam Square