Thursday- Utrecht Museum

  There was a lot of interesting things to see and learn at the University Museum of Utrecht.  First off, the gardens were very beautiful and diverse.  It was cool to see how the garden was split into the regular plants and then the medicinal plants.  It was also very interesting to learn about the "orangeriee" (not sure how this is spelled) houses which are an old type of greenhouse.  Once inside the Museum, there were a lot of interesting, hands on things to do, but my two favorite parts were the two cabinet rooms.  The first one was the contents of the cabinet of a medical professor from long ago at the University.  Though the specimens were gruesome at times, it was very impressive to see how well preserved they were and the types of specimens that they had.  I know the tour guide said the preserving liquid was a type of alcohol, but I was wondering what it was to preserve it, yet not degrade it over all these years.  I am sure it is a pretty nasty chemical.  The second cabinet that was interesting was the top cabinet of the mysteries.  I think the history behind this was interesting as it was at first used as a showpiece for rich, mostly non scientists as a status tool.