Day 298: Doorn

On Friday, I met up with a friend in Utrecht and we biked to a little village about 20km away called Doorn. It was a nice bike ride, except for the start, we had an awful time trying to figure out how to get out of Utrecht. But, once we were out of the city we found our way to Doorn fairly easily. The reason for going to Doorn was to visit a house called 'Huis Doorn'. This was the house where Kaiser Wilhelm II lived following his exile from Germany at the end of World War I. He lived there from about 1920 until his death in 1941. Following his death, he was buried in a mausoleum next to the house. At the house, we got a tour by a very enthusiastic older dutch man, who babbled on and on in dutch for about two hours. A bit too fast and bit too long for me. But, he did tell us some interesting facts about the home and the Kaiser. While Wilhelm was still Kaiser of Germany, he had 66 palaces, the largest of which was 1600 rooms. In exile in the Netherlands he had one house, with 16 rooms. In his writing room, he had a chair shaped like a saddle. This is because supposedly people think quicker when they're in the saddle. As a result of a birth defect which left him with a withered left arm, all his shirts, jackets, etc., were shorter in the left arm. He also had to use specialized utensils, such as a fork with one side which could be used as a knife. In one room which he used to talk with guests, there is a large beautiful chandelier. Apparently the candles put in this chandelier were scented. Therefore, Wilhelm could stand or sit directly below the chandelier and would not be troubled by the unpleasant odours of his guests. I guess this was a time before people showered regularly.
A bust of the Kaiser with the house in the background:
His mausoleum: