Tour Leader’s Blog

After leaving Newark at 5:00 p.m. or so US time, I knew I was in for a long night. After the 7-hour flight, we arrived in Frankfurt, and when it should have been 12:00 midnight, it was just time to get up and start the day…with another flight to Amsterdam. This flight only took 2 hours, but I slept solid for both of them, awakeing only when the food cart came by. The first day, Monday when I left, but Tuesday in Europe, went by in somewhat of a blur due to my tiredness mixed with my excitement, but I remember that we went to Aalsmeer Flower Auction, the world’s largest, as well as to a cheese factory, and a fully-functional windmill. And naturally, wooden shoe shops were everywhere one looked.

On Wednesday we had an equally full day. We left our hotel at 7:00 in the morning, well, a little later than that, but 7 00 was the scheduled time, and drove up to northern Holland. On the way, we crossed a 30-km dike which was very neat. We then went to Pingjum, the town that Menno Simons lived in, which was very interesting. Not only did we get to see a monument to Simons, but also for the first time that John Ruth can remember, we were invited to “the white house,” a house where Simons lived for a while. From there, we drove to a small town in Holland where we attended a small service welcoming us. We then had a meal at a church in the area consisting of potato salad and soup, It was very good. This was where we met the local families that we were going to stay the night with that evening. Although I can only truly speak for myself, I had a blast, and I am sure that everyone else did as well.

This morning, we got up and drove to Munster, Germany and saw where the Anabaptists who rebelled and captured the city were put after being executed–it was quite sobering to think about. We also got to see a beautiful Romanesque cathedral there, although the name eludes me, It was still a beautiful sight. Walking the city we also saw a monumant to a Bishop who opposed Hitler’s t-4 program. Interestingly, due to his influence over the people of Munster, the Bishop was not put in prison or even harassed. From there we drove to Cologne and we saw the twin towers of Cologne, a Gothic Catherdral…it was HUGE…absolutely gigantic…I felt like an ant. Our day came to an end by driving to our hotel.

~ Aaron Kaufmann
TourMagination European Heritage participant 2008