Leiden

Time to catch up on some blogs! Heading back a few weeks to a trip to Leiden that the theology class took. Leiden was the home of the first university in The Netherlands, and because the Netherlands allows a lot of thinking that other countries did not at the time a lot of intellectuals came there to study. 

Back then it wasn't okay to cut open the human body for religious reasons. However, somewhere they found a loophole that it would be okay if it was a person that had committed a murder or such. This "theater" of sorts was where at Leiden they would cut open and look at the human body for the first time.. and the public was invited to come watch. People would stand around and watch the doctors and scientists investigate.. led to lots of awesome things! The museum had the first iron lung and lots of other "firsts" in the field of medicine and about everything else.

Astronomy and just about everything was in that museum. 

The "Burcht van Leiden Castle" was built in the 11th century to defend the city. 

View from the inside with the professor and some other students of course.. and an awesome church in the background! 

Could see a lot of Leiden from up there. 

We hit up another museum... this one was from the time of the pyramids.. way back with the mummies and such. Fun stuff! - and yes I learned this blog counts for reflections on some of these excursions so i will be covering every excursion we do all semester ;) Oh, and we learned that Leiden was the home of the pilgrims before they went to America, so we walked past their church and the home of the pastor.. that is now a museum.