Saturday was National Windmill Day. In order to appropriately celebrate this day we were going to get on our bikes and tour some of the eight windmills that are in the city limits of Amsterdam. As we had already been to the one that is open to the public, all the others were in our sights. As the day dawned like many typical Amsterdam days, cold and raining, we soon decided “Sod that for a game of soldiers”, and I took Himself off to the Museum instead.
Set in the cobbled alleys of the Amsterdam Centrum, the Museum is a wealth of history.
The DNA exhibition details the timeline of Amsterdam; from it’s humble beginnings, though the Alteration (when the Protestants displaced the Catholic rulers) …
… through French and Napoleonic occupation …
… and the expansion of the city and the formation of the iconic (and World Heritage Listed) canal system.
There were displays of some of the most amazing and detailed work, as during the Golden age all the master craftsmen flocked to Amsterdam.
It was a major hub of industry and international trade. Where everything and anything could be obtained from all over the world.
And here is a room full of dead fish to prove that.
Actually, I’m not sure what the fish were proving, but you can smell them from two rooms away in any direction. *gag*
With such a focus on progress, and all manor of people flocking to Amsterdam, they were also at the forefront of the Sciences.
Though they still had capital punishment until 1983 … These “Blood ties” were worn over the left shoulder when pronouncing a death sentence.
I still have yet to see all of this Museum. There is so much to take in! I guess I’ll just have to go back!
ghoti industries 