Life in Leiden

My first week in Leiden included class on Tuesday and Thursday and an all day tour of Leiden on Wednesday.  

On Tuesday in class we finished discussing the Wrightson book on the British path towards creating a national economy and looked at some documents such as Mandeville's Fable of the Bees, Defoe's The Complete English Tradesman, Hume's of Refinement in the Arts, Millar's on the Origin and Distinction of Ranks, and some Adam Smith. 

On Wednesday we walked around the beautiful city that I am residing in.  Leiden was founded around 1000 CE and the name probably came from the Roman period from a Roman military stronghold called Lugdunum Batavorum. In the early medieval period the name Leithon was used for the district where present-day Leiden is located.  The city was surrounded by a medieval wall and contained two branches of the river Rhine.  The city's coat of arms highlights the keys of Saint Peter, the patron saint of the city.  The lion with the upraised sword refers to the early years of the Dutch Revolt and the important role that Leiden played for all of what would become known as The Netherlands.

This is a 1574 map of the city.

And here is a map of Leiden today.  My dorm is at the corner of Galgewater and Prinsessekade near the number 7.

As we walked we saw Town Hall, the Lakenhal (Cloth makers Hall), and Saint Peter's Church. We visited the city's museum in the Lakenhal. Their collection is impressive and I definitely need to get back there.  In the afternoon we walked around Leiden University and the botanical garden there. We also got registered at the university library and met with the chief archivist who met with us for some time and showed us some of the great treasures of their collection.  The book that I spent most of my time with was Jan Huygen's itineraries, published in 1597. I'll be using images from this book in the paper that I write for this seminar so I'll tell more about it later.

On Thursday we discussed various readings on the Low Countries, specifically centering on the Burgundian period, in preparation for our three day, three city trip to Brussels.  

Getting to The Netherlands

On Sunday evening our taxi let us out at the Liverpool Street Station and we slowly made our way inside and found our train and got situated. The train ride was uneventful and I enjoyed seeing the rural scenery. Because it was Sunday and they were working on the tracks, a big double decker charter-type bus met us a few stops early and took us to the ferry in Harwich.  The ride seemed kind of crazy--the bus was so big and the little roads to the coast were very narrow.  We scraped a lot of trees on the way there.

This was our first view of the ship as we approached on the bus.

Harwich is the port in NE England that the Pilgrims left from for Holland in 1608.  That was pretty exciting to be sailing from the same port as my ancestors! 

Here is a poster that was in the ferry terminal.

The ferry was really more like a cruise ship.  It was a lot of fun. We boarded about 8 pm.  this is the view from the bus that took us from the terminal onto the ship. 

Cars to the left, busses to the right.

The big semi trucks entered the ship from another end. After we got settled into our room on the 11th floor I watched some of the big trucks getting situated on their deck.

They looked like they were having fun spinning around and getting into just the right spot.

Here are Emily and I checking out our room.

It was pretty nice! We wish that we had an outside room with a huge round window--Jim got one, but he didn't even want us to know where he was!

We explored a bit.  There was a restaurant, a cafe, a movie theater, and various lounges.  Everything was very expensive so I skipped dinner.  There was even an outdoor basketball court!  

The ship left dock at about 11 pm.  I stayed up on deck watching it clear the harbor and marveled at all of the huge cargo ships being unloaded by huge automated cranes in the middle of the night.  

Six-thirty came too early and we had to get off.  Here is a view of the ship in the morning as we were leaving it.

We took a couple of trains and arrived at Leiden to find a beautiful city.  I will post pictures on my blog.  It is a city of canals and is like Venice.  My dorm room looks out on a gorgeous canal.  

I have my own room here that is quite large that has a little kitchenette and a bathroom.  It was dirty, but I was pleased to find all hard surfaces and no carpet so I cleaned for much of Monday after arriving.  I washed walls, kitchen cabinets, and the floor.  The whole bathroom is one of those solid plastics units so I washed that down as well.  I went to the grocery store and bought food to cook with.  I'm tired of eating out and spending way too much money.  That really was my only option in London as we were on the go so much.  I cooked a pot of lentil stew last night but didn't eat any yet as we had our opening dinner.  I'll have to post about that on my blog!  I was too tired to take pictures, which was a shame.  

Last two days in London-Saturday and Sunday

Saturday, July 6th

I completely finished a long post on these two days and then somehow lost it all-- not very happy about that!  So this will be short.  

I returned from Lingfield by 10 am on Saturday and spent some time napping and straightening up my things. Right after lunch I went with a friend to Kensington Palace to see the four exhibits that are currently open to the public. It was enjoyable, but not one of my faves of London.  I didn't get very many pictures because it was dark in the rooms but I did get a few pictures of items from Asia that I noticed.  During this seminar I've been on the lookout for items from what the Dutch call "the rich trades" or the trade that began first in the Indian Ocean in 1497 and expanded further East after that.

I wonder how old this chest is.  

Some Chinese vases placed out of reach of the masses.

This chest was very impressive.

Not a great picture, but there were three pretty plates in this cabinet.

After we left the palace we walked around the area a bit and got a snack in a Whole Foods store. That was fun!

Sunday, July 7th

In the morning I took the Tube to the Hyde Park area to attend church at 9 am.  However, I got turned around in the area and looked in the wrong area.  It was a really hot,day and I eventually gave up and went back to the Victoria and Albert Museum.  I spent several hours there and really enjoyed it. I thought I had seen just about all there was to see when I was first there, but man, was I ever mistaken! I especially was happy to find the pottery collection on the top floor.  

Before I got started, though, I had to have tea one more time. I'm going to really miss those scones, clotted cream, and jam.

And here is the tea room that is still in its original condition from the Victorian era.  I was amazed that some people preferred to have their tea in a modern cafeteria room adjacent to this rather than here.

Okay, now for some pottery.  Here are a few examples of prehistoric Venus figurines to use in teaching. These, interestingly, are from the Ghandara area.

I loved this bowl from Yuan China.  The four fish in the bottom are unglazed and highlight the terra cotta clay.

Also from the Mongol period are these examples of blue and white pottery from both China and Iran. The sharing of use of color, design and technological technique highlights the stability that the Yuan period provided for a large area that allowed for this kind of sharing. 

Moving on to evidence of more long distance trade we see here examples of Medici blue and white pottery made in Italy.  I am amazed by the refined shapes and skill level of these potters.  Also, they don't seem to be trying to copy the Chinese patterns closely but instead include their own motifs with Chinese influenced techniques.

Here is more Italian pottery, definitely less refined in terms of technique-but intricate in pattern and interpretation of religious themes.

These are British attempts at replicating Chinese pottery. Notice how they are nearly copies.

Here are some similar examples from the Netherlands.

There is a potter in residence there right now from Japan. She has a studio there on the top floor that is closed in by glass walls so visitors can watch her work.  She was there on Sunday but only packaging up some things for shipment.  Here is a map plate from Japan from 1800. Following this is her modern interptation of this plate for Great Britain.

And I couldn't resist having my picture taken in front of this huge plate from Japan. Can you imagine turning this on a wheel?!  The sweet older lady that I stopped to ask if she would take my picture was taken aback because she didn't speak English. I thought I heard her say something in Japanese so I spoke in Japanese and asked her again if she would take my picture. She was so relieved and happy. 

Thursday and Friday in London

Thursday, July 4th, 2013

On Thursday we went on a day-long walking excursion of London centering on the shipping trade in the 17th and 18th centuries. We traveled first by Tube to the Tower of London where we began our serious walking.  We did not tour the tower as that is really touristy and is not really the focus of our studies. 

Here are some shots I took of the Tower

Our guide, who was a former school principal who now works in public history at a museum in Hastings, talked to us a bit about the tower and the neighborhood there. He showed us the execution grounds and the bit of Roman wall that exists there. I found it investing that one can see where the Roman wall stops and the medieval wall begins.  

And here is the wall

You can see from the picture where the medieval wall begins.  The Romans used clay tiles in bonding courses to stabilize the wall.  The medieval builders did not do that.  The Romans used stone and bricks were used during the medieval period.

Next we walked to Saint Katherine's Dock which is an extant dock that was built in the 1820s.  this is really late for our time period, but much of what is from the pre-industrial era is gone.  The dock was a private venture built on the site of a 12th century nunnery.  The nuns and working poor were displaced and the docks dug and connected to the Thames.  

As we approached it three pleasure boats where in the docks waiting to enter the river.  We walked across the foot bridge just in time to see it raised and watch the boats pass through--two were from the Netherlands--a good omen, I thought, for our group.

Here are two of the three boats that we saw leave the docks.

While it is still a working dock, it is no longer used for imports but for pleasure crafts.

This is what St. Katherine's Dock looked like in its day.

Now all of the warehouses are shops and restaurants. Where the door and windows are at ground level would have been open to be able to receive goods. Goods would enter on the water side and exit on the land side.

As you can see this warehouse was called The Ivory House. Each warehouse was named after the type of goods that it received from abroad. 

This is the gate on the city side of the dock where all of the material had to pass to leave the dock and enter the city. This is where the taxes would be paid on all of the items shipped into the country and that is how the government prospered from the imports.

Next we took the Tube again and transferred once before reaching the West India Quay.  Quay, I was surprised to learn, is pronounced "key"!  Here, though no longer a working dock (it's all businesses, office buildings, and restaurants), we were able to see what the docks of the 16th through 18th century looked like and how they worked.  They were more linear than St. Katherine's, and thus much more efficient.  We spent a couple of hours in the Museum of London-Docklands which was really very fascinating.

Next we took the Tube one short stop to the North side of the Thames across from the Greenwich Royal Observatory and the National Maritime Museum.  After talking about it for a few minutes we walked under the Thames to get to it!  A liberal mayor of the city thought that the workers who needed to cross the river to get to the docks should not have to pay some of their hard-earned wages to take a ferry so he had the foot tunnel dug beginning in 1899.  That was a fun experience!  Once you get to the South side there is a lot to see.  We did not tour the restored clipper, the Cutty Sark, but that is on my list for when Lee and I get to go together.  The National Maritime Museum was fine, but for my tastes it was more hype than substance. The Queen's home was closed that day (they were having a 4th of July celebration and we were not invited!) So, two of my colleagues and I decided to trace the Meridian the line on a map and figured out where it crossed several paved paths in a garden and took a picture there. 

Most of the group decided to pay four extra pounds on our day pass that the institute provided for us and took the water ferry back to central London at the Embankment Tube station.  

Here I am braving the speed and the water spray at the back of the boat where I shouldn't have been. we got kicked out of this area a few minutes after taking this picture--but we enjoyed the thrill of it while it lasted!

Here is a view that I captured when the boat slowed down for one of its stops.

I don't remember how it happened, but three of us ended up at the Queen's Head & Artichoke (the pub where we had our first group dinner) and had a great, but expensive meal.  I had lamb that was pretty tasty. I'm sure there was other stuff but it all seems to be a blur. I have a foggy memory of some chocolate ice cream rolled in coconut that cost six and a half pounds! It was after that dinner that I vowed to stop setting out. The problem with that is that it was impossible in London--the dorm was not really conducive to cooking and we were constantly on the go so there was no time to cook. 

Friday, July 5th, 2013

Friday was museum day.  We started off with a walk through London's financial district and ended up at the Bank of England Museum.  Along the way we saw some of the very early buildings that the British East India Company used for offices and warehouses. We also saw the hideous (at least I think so) Lloyd's of London building (I saw in the NYT that a Chinese company is buying the building--I think they should dismantle it and move it to China!) and the Gherkin.  

Here are some shots of the Lloyd's of London building. Do you think it looks like a meat factory?

Even right inside a neo-classic framed doorway you have the monstrosity prominently featured.

All systems for the building, including stairs, are on the exterior.

So as not to mar the beauty and style of the building, they erected this plaque, a tribute to the four elements that cause natural disasters, on an adjacent building.  I like this a lot better than their building. What do you think?

Next we spent some time in the Museum of London and then moved on to the Victoria and Albert Museum.  We started off in the V&A having tea in the original, untouched tea room which was a real treat. I had a scone, jam, and clotted cream with my tea.

I left the V&A a bit early and took the Tube to Victoria Station where I met Gary and Sheri McMurtrey.  They used the excuse of meeting me in London to do a bit of sightseeing for the day. We rode the train together and chatted for the hour ride south into Surrey. At the Lingfield station we got their van and rode to the nearby temple.  

We took this picture right before going inside.

And I took this one when we got out later that evening.

I was excited to find my room and get to bed as it had been a very long day. Gary and Sheri had arranged for a room at the temple housing. It was so nice to be in a clean room and the bed was quite comfortable!  I had a great night's sleep and returned on the train on Saturday morning.