More Travels

 The link for this week's live-streamed service is here.

This week's guest blogger is Barb Lyon, but before we get to her post, just a few words about upcoming events at SPPC.

• This Friday, March 22 is the spring cleaning bee. Even if you haven't signed up, feel free to come along at 10:00 am and lend a bit of elbow grease.
• Sunday, March 24 is Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week.
• Thursday, March 28 is Friendship Coffee at 10:00 am in the hall. All welcome
• Good Friday, March 29 we hold a service of readings and hymns at 10:00 am in the sanctuary.
• Easter Sunday, March 31, we will begin with an early morning service in Cy Hampson Park. Easter is early in the spring this year so don't expect the best of weather. Do expect joy and jubilation, and maybe a visiting songbird. The service begins at 8:00 am. 
• Easter Breakfast. After the service in the park we can warm up with a hot breakfast in the hall. Please join us, even if you do not go to the 8:00 am service.
• Easter Worship in the sanctuary at 10:00 am

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As my childhood friend Shirley and I look forward to our rail tour of Switzerland and cruise of the Norwegian fjords in June, I have been remembering a trip I took to Holland a few years ago. I visited the Royal Delft Shop where they manufacture and sell the iconic blue Dutch china and assorted china ware.

 

Royal Delft has been creating high-end Delft Blue since 1653. The centuries-old craftsmanship was passed down from generation to generation. The craftsmen create iconic pieces to this very day. Besides classic pieces, the collection also consists of contemporary decorations.

Being a lover of all things small I bought a tiny Dutch "wooden" shoe.

 

 

In Amsterdam a bike is a necessity!  It is the preferred method of transportation.  With so many bikes one would expect collisions would be commonplace.  Not so, I am told.  Riders are so safety conscious that most ride without helmets.

 

Of course, one must have a place to "park" one's bike and so here is a parkade that can store 9,000 bikes!  Just don't forget where you put it!

Prinsengracht (Prince's Canal) is the fourth and the longest of the main canals in Amsterdam. It is named after the Prince of Orange. Most of the canal houses along it were built during the Dutch Golden Age of the United Provinces. The bridges over the Prinsengracht canal connect with the streets in the Jordaan in the West and the Weteringbuurt on the East side.

Notable buildings along Prinsengracht include the Noorderkerk (Northern Church), the Noordermarkt (Northern Market),^[19] Anne Frank House,^[20][21] and the Westerkerk (Western Church.

 

This is the canal we took a ride on.

During my visit, the Rijksmuseum was celebrating the 350th anniversary of Rembrandt's death. Here is a quote about the occasion. 

Rijksmuseum marks the 350th anniversary of Rembrandt’s death in 2019 with ‘Year of Rembrandt’. The year-long celebration opens with ‘All the Rembrandts’, in which the Rijksmuseum will present for the first time an exhibition of all 22 paintings, 60 drawings and more than 300 best examples of Rembrandt’s prints in its collection.

As well as holding the world’s largest collection of Rembrandt paintings – including The Night Watch, the portraits of Marten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit, The Jewish Bride – the Rijksmuseum collection offers the world’s most comprehensive and representative overview of Rembrandt’s painting oeuvre.

Given the extreme rarity that many of these delicate drawings and prints go on display, All the Rembrandts offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to glean an unparalleled perspective on Rembrandt the artist, the human, the storyteller, the innovator. 

This exhibition was spectacular!

Ed. Note: thanks for this Barb. Food for the armchair traveller.