Today, we visited a maritime museum, ate 400g burgers, and spent some time with our Dutch relatives.
The Het Scheepvaartmuseum is the National Martime Museum for the Netherlands. The building was the storehouse and arsenal for the Dutch Navy. It was built in the 17th century and remained in use until the 1970’s.
There are a number of fascinating exhibits and collections here. We saw items which had voyaged to the Dutch East Indies and back. We saw nautical devices, ship models, and maps which guided Dutch mariners. Perhaps the most significant exhibit is the replica of Amsterdam, a 17th century merchant vessel.
Brian found the interior of the ship much too confining. Even CreeperPuppy would have had difficulty sleeping in the tiny berths.
After the museum, we returned our bicycles to the rental agency and stopped off at a place called Burgers n Cheese for lunch. All the burgers were advertised as 400 grams which is almost 1 pound! We ordered 3 of them for the 5 of us and still couldn’t finish them. Whoa, that’s a lot of meat!
Battling a food coma, we made our way to Java-eiland. This man-made spit of land was originally used by the Dutch East India Company for wharves and warehouses used in trade. In the 1990’s the island had fallen into disrepair and developers razed the commercial buildings and began building residential apartments. Today, it is a desirable area due to its proximity to central Amsterdam and its wonderful water-side views.
The object of our trip to Java-eisland wasn’t to see the apartment buildings. We were there to visit Grandma Loesje’s cousin Ina who is a long time resident here.
Ina has decorated her apartment with a great number of marvelous collectibles accumulated over her years traveling for the Fokker aircraft company. The kids sat staring at all of the African figures, Asian vases, and foreign artwork which filled her fine apartment.
The kids are likely to remember two aspects to their visit to Ina’s. First, they loved but then didn’t so much love the Mogu Mogu mango juice from Thailand that was served (great taste, unusual to have fruit chunks in juice). Second, based on the tasteful decoration of the apartment, it was obvious to them that Ina and Grandma Loesje were related.
We left Java-eisland for a suburb of Amsterdam to meet another Dutch relative. Arthur & Merlot have a beautiful daughter who has her 4th birthday coming up. In exchange for a few birthday gifts, our 5 Adventures were treated to a fantastic home-cooked meal and a movie. It was a wonderful visit.
5 Adventures Together 