Historic Anabaptist Places (Pictures itt)

A place to discuss history and historical events.
Post Reply
ohio jones

Re: Historic Anabaptist Places (Pictures itt)

Post by ohio jones »

Let's go now to the Netherlands, and the origins of Menno Simons. Menno's first assignment as a Catholic priest was in the town of Pingjum (1524-1531). The church tower was there in his day, but the rest of the building has been rebuilt and of course is now a Reformed church.

Image

Walking west from the Reformed church you will come to this "hidden" church, which is a meeting point for the Doopsgezinde (Mennonite) church.

Image

Menno was then transferred to Witmarsum, his birthplace, where he served as priest from 1531 until he left the Catholic church in 1536. Again, the church currently on the site is a Reformed church of later construction.

Image

From this church, go north along the east side of the canal to Menno Simonsstraat, where you will find the current Doopsgezinde church.

Image

Prior to 1877 this congregation met outside of town, where there is now an obelisk memorial to Menno. To get there, follow Menno Simonsstraat to the other end, then continue south on Easthimmerwei. It may not be easy to see the memorial from the road, so the best thing is to park at the Groencentrum ("Green Center" garden store) and walk back their lane; take a right through the row of trees.

Image

Transportation: There is bus service to these towns, but it's much better to drive here. From Amsterdam, take the highway across the Afluitsdijk separating the IJsselmeer from the North Sea. Both towns are just beyond the northeast end of the dijk, and about 3 miles apart.
0 x
Hats Off

Re: Historic Anabaptist Places (Pictures itt)

Post by Hats Off »

My daughter is going to Germany for a conference/meeting and would like to go to Switzerland for several days. I think I will have to introduce her to MennoNet so she can read this thread. She can't choose the timing for her trip so it will be in December but she wants to see some Anabaptist sites as well as experience the mountains. And no, she doesn't ski.
0 x
Swiss Bro

Re: Historic Anabaptist Places (Pictures itt)

Post by Swiss Bro »

Hats Off wrote:My daughter is going to Germany for a conference/meeting and would like to go to Switzerland for several days. I think I will have to introduce her to MennoNet so she can read this thread. She can't choose the timing for her trip so it will be in December but she wants to see some Anabaptist sites as well as experience the mountains. And no, she doesn't ski.
That should be feasible. Switzerland is really small and you can get from one end to another in less than 4 hours and from any major city you will be in some decent mountains in less than 2 hours. Plus, public transport is quite reliable (but expensive) and will get you almost everywhere.
ohio jones wrote:Let's go now to the Netherlands, and the origins of Menno Simons.
Excellent stuff, thanks for sharing.
0 x
temporal1

Re: Historic Anabaptist Places (Pictures itt)

Post by temporal1 »

Swiss Bro wrote:
Hats Off wrote:My daughter is going to Germany for a conference/meeting and would like to go to Switzerland for several days. I think I will have to introduce her to MennoNet so she can read this thread.
She can't choose the timing for her trip so it will be in December but she wants to see some Anabaptist sites as well as experience the mountains. And no, she doesn't ski.
That should be feasible. Switzerland is really small and you can get from one end to another in less than 4 hours and from any major city you will be in some decent mountains in less than 2 hours. Plus, public transport is quite reliable (but expensive) and will get you almost everywhere.
ohio jones wrote:Let's go now to the Netherlands, and the origins of Menno Simons.
Excellent stuff, thanks for sharing.
A great thing about skiers is, they create these great places for non-skiers to visit 12 months/year.
Hope she has a wonderful trip. :D

oj would be my personal fav tour guide. :D
glad he’s contributing to this fascinating thread.
0 x
Judas Maccabeus

Re: Historic Anabaptist Places (Pictures itt)

Post by Judas Maccabeus »

Hats Off wrote:My daughter is going to Germany for a conference/meeting and would like to go to Switzerland for several days. I think I will have to introduce her to MennoNet so she can read this thread. She can't choose the timing for her trip so it will be in December but she wants to see some Anabaptist sites as well as experience the mountains. And no, she doesn't ski.
The TRAINS! Be sure she knows about them. And the Jungfraujoch is spectacular, though expensive.

J.M.
0 x
Swiss Bro

Re: Historic Anabaptist Places (Pictures itt)

Post by Swiss Bro »

Talking about trains, here is another means of transport and, I might add, a quite unusual one from an Anabaptist perspective.

Behold the MS Caroline, a steamboat that belonged to the Gemeinschaft Evangelisch Taufgesinnter (in America known as Apostolic Christian Church) of Horgen Neuhof at the shores of Lake Zurich and was used until 1933 to pick up brethren from across the lake on the Sunday morning and bring them back in the evening after a day of worSHIP and fellowSHIP...

Image

Source: https://www.horgen.ch/_docn/1216807/Hor ... t_2006.pdf
0 x
temporal1

Re: Historic Anabaptist Places (Pictures itt)

Post by temporal1 »

Judas Maccabeus wrote:
Hats Off wrote:My daughter is going to Germany for a conference/meeting and would like to go to Switzerland for several days. I think I will have to introduce her to MennoNet so she can read this thread. She can't choose the timing for her trip so it will be in December but she wants to see some Anabaptist sites as well as experience the mountains. And no, she doesn't ski.
The TRAINS! Be sure she knows about them. And the Jungfraujoch is spectacular, though expensive.
J.M.
Our visit was long ago, but “The TRAINS!” :D
We took advantage of rail passes, a quick search shows passes are available, some for trains, others include boats, buses, city travel .. there are day passes. :)

A few Swiss travel sites:

https://www.swiss-pass.ch/

https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/ ... ail-passes

https://www.swissvistas.com/swiss-rail-pass.html

https://www.klook.com/en-GB/activity/11 ... rail-pass/

The cost of food was a challenge for us. i effortlessly lost 10 pounds in 3 weeks. :lol:
Chocolate is sold on every corner, 5 of us shared 1 chocolate bar for lunch everyday.
It kept us going. 8-) We covered a lot of train ground with 2 preschoolers and a preteen!

We were warned to expect the Swiss to be “aloof,” but we felt we were treated warmly. 8-)
Great memories.
0 x
ohio jones

Re: Historic Anabaptist Places (Pictures itt)

Post by ohio jones »

temporal1 wrote:
Judas Maccabeus wrote:
Hats Off wrote:My daughter is going to Germany for a conference/meeting and would like to go to Switzerland for several days. I think I will have to introduce her to MennoNet so she can read this thread. She can't choose the timing for her trip so it will be in December but she wants to see some Anabaptist sites as well as experience the mountains. And no, she doesn't ski.
The TRAINS! Be sure she knows about them. And the Jungfraujoch is spectacular, though expensive.
J.M.
Our visit was long ago, but “The TRAINS!” :D
We took advantage of rail passes, a quick search shows passes are available, some for trains, others include boats, buses, city travel .. there are day passes. :)

A few Swiss travel sites:
Ah, expensive options for the casual shopper. For days when travel extends beyond one city/region/canton, the Saver Day Pass bought a few weeks in advance directly from the Schweizerische Bundesbahnen is likely to be the best flexible option. And for the trips to and from Germany (or even somewhere near Germany 8-) :geek: ), tickets bought from Deutsche Bahn are likely to be less expensive. The best advice will be found at Seat61.
0 x
temporal1

Re: Historic Anabaptist Places (Pictures itt)

Post by temporal1 »

oj:
“Ah, expensive options for the casual shopper.
For days when travel extends beyond one city/region/canton,
the Saver Day Pass bought a few weeks in advance directly from the Schweizerische Bundesbahnen is likely to be the best flexible option.
And for the trips to and from Germany (or even somewhere near Germany 8-) :geek: ),
tickets bought from Deutsche Bahn are likely to be less expensive.

The best advice will be found at Seat61.
Great! - Whatever it takes to drag it out of you. :mrgreen:
0 x
ohio jones

Re: Historic Anabaptist Places (Pictures itt)

Post by ohio jones »

About 50 miles southeast of Witmarsum is the carless village of Giethoorn. To explore this town, you will need to park at the entrance and walk, cycle, or rent a boat.

Image

During the 19th century, about half the population was Mennonite. Now it is a gentrified vacation spot for rich city dwellers to weekend, and a popular stop for tourists (especially Chinese, for some reason). There is still a Doopsgezinde church, and it's the only one I've found where people are more likely to arrive by boat than by car. I guess it would have to be an amphibious car anyway.

Image

The story is told that when the pews were in need of paint, they didn't really care about the color and wanted to be thrifty cheap. So they went to the paint store and asked if there were leftovers, seconds, returns, or other discounted cheap products. The store owner mixed all of those together and called the result Mennonite Blue.

Image
0 x
Post Reply