Today was a full day! We started at 7:00am at the Flower Auction in Alasmeer, Netherlands, the largest flower auction in the world: a pallet of bright & diverse flowers & plants. We were mesmerized by the bustling forklifts as if they were a hive of bees busy for the day.
On a walking tour of Mennonite Amsterdam, we learned about the naked revolutionists comprised of 7 men and 5 women who de-robed & walked through the streets in Amsterdam in support of Anabaptism. They marched to city hall, were arrested & were killed by burning (men) & drowning (women).
Later, we visited Singel Church, built in 1639. We ate lunch at an original table which had carved signatures of graduates, including Ana, the first woman minister from the early 1900s.
We toured the Rijksmuseum, the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history. We witnessed the art of approximately 10 Mennonite painters, including Rembrandt’s ‘Nightwatch’ & ‘Gallery of Honor’ commissioned in 1640. Rembrandt was the best painter of his time, and a third of his art was comprised of Biblical scenes.
We ended the day with a boat ride on the canals of Amsterdam.
– Joyce Yoder
