The Zuiderzee Museum in Enkhuizen, NL

Put on your seatbelt because this one is quite the ride, which I want to keep together in one post.

This past Sunday Astrid and I drove 135km north to Enkhuizen to visit the Zuiderzee Museum on the shores of the IJsselmeer.  We had already visited the harbor briefly back in 2010, so I remembered it, but this time we were on a mission and we took Margreeth and Natascha with us.  Remember that they were the ones who encouraged us to buy the annual museum card, which we did.

So, here goes....

You enter the building, fetch your tickets, and grab the next boat to the open-air museum.

On that 15-minute boat ride, you pass the magnificent harbor of Enkhuizen, part of the museum fee.

And you end up at the chalk-factory chimneys, to start your open-air museum experience.

Before going off into the museum's town, we stopped at the bronze-age display near the chalk factory.

That's when I realized this museum was a lot about interactive play for kids of all ages.

That's the kind of museum I LOVE.

From the bronze-age site we walked along the shore to the museum's open-air village.

What you could see from the shore was its own special "museum."

But before we did anything else, we stopped at this darling café for koffie,

and to get our bearings (on a very off-n-on blustery, rainy day).

After koffie, first up was the fishing village.

(The Dutch use underground telephone lines today.)

The fun thing was to walk into the houses and see how they lived back then.

 And since it was the fishing village, we saw the fishing nets out everywhere.

Even real fish were being dried...which I wished I could have tried.

The windmill was nearby in the polder, where Astrid could demonstrate the drill for pumping out water.

As you'd guess, the animals were right at home, never guessing this was a museum.

 From the polder and fishing village we entered the Town Canal.
I just LOVE the little pedestrian bridges of the Netherlands, don't you?

I fell in love with all the boats everywhere within this open-air museum.
I love the Dutch harbors but canals are so cozy.

From that point we walked back-n-forth between the Town Canal and the Church Quarter.
After awhile my images started running together, but it doesn't matter.

We spent a lot of time in this man's sign/calligraphy shop.
It's a dying art and Astrid spent time talking to him intelligently about his profession.
She knows how hard it is because she once dabbled in it!

In fact, there were many professions/trades to see or watch in action.

I'm a sucker for tools of the trade, as you know by now.

 There even was a school where you could practice your penmanship skills.
See what I mean by interactive?!

Remember that this is an open-air museum.  It could be a real village!

 And just like everywhere, you had a chance to play.

The kids could even dress up from the dressing-up chest.
Doesn't this remind you of Humans of New York:  Microfashion!

 I don't think it gets better than this for an interactive museum.

Speaking of dressing up, there was even a room where you could find your shoe size
and try to walk around in wooden clogs.

You know the Dutch and their wooden shoes, of course.
They're everywhere, even if only for show.

 I told you this would be a ride!  There was something for everyone.

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As an aside, you may recall that we started our museum card in early May at another open-air museum, in Arnhem, NL:  the Openluchtmuseum.  I didn't think anything could get better than that.  But it did, with this Zuiderzee Museum in Enkhuizen.  There are many similarities but also many differences.

Both museums have got to be right up at the top of the list of all open-air museums anywhere!

Dutch Masters and Such....

Today is my turn again at Vision & Verb, this time talking about the "dutch masters" from my series on Shutterchance last week. You'll have to go there (V&V) if you wonder what I'm talking about.

Most of you know by now that every weekend possible, Astrid and I take the Gran Towanda out for another spin to see everything possible here in this incredible country called The Netherlands. A week ago Saturday we took our longest trip thus far, driving 320 km roundtrip to visit Enkhuizen and Hoorn to the north and east of Amsterdam. Both are coastal cities, so I knew we'd see something different than rural Holland. But I'm not sure I was prepared for what I saw.

I am such a glutton for harbors and marinas, seeing all the sailboat masts piercing the sky. First in Enkhuizen and then in Hoorn, we saw enough majestic sailboats (of all sizes) to last us until August when we plan to see the Tall Ships in Amsterdam. Our appetites were definitely whetted.

The water surrounding Enkhuizen and Hoorn is the IJsselmeer (please don't ask me why the second letter is capitalized because Astrid doesn't know either..."it's just the way it is; it's an exception!"), 1100 km² (684 sq. miles) in size. It's huge. It's a fresh-water lake that flows into the North Sea, which is salt water. Yes, I'm getting my education.

On the 30 km coastal drive from Enkhuizen to Hoorn, we had the delight of seeing this young lady (below) doing practice laps in her sulky on the race track. Another educational experience. This is how The Netherlands does its horse racing...in sulky carts. And yes, they bet on their races just as they do in America.

We spent the bulk of our time in Hoorn, the city closer to Amsterdam and probably more well-known. I'm guessing it's one of Amsterdam's "playgrounds" for the bigger waters. Lots of wealth oozes from this city!



When we come home from these invigorating trips, we are two tired puppies. You can bet your bottom dollar on that! MAAR...BUT we totally eat up these times. We both continue to feel so lucky for all that is at our fingertips to see and experience.

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Two weeks of Dutch classes are now under my belt and I'm loving the experience. I'm getting more and more confident on my bike, too. I finished my first chapter in the workbooks and computer halfway through the 3-week schedule, acing my test, so now I will 'graduate' to the learning center. They weren't ready for me last week but supposedly by tomorrow I'll be moved. As the chapters get harder and harder, I'm sure I will naturally slow down. There is too much to retain and I'm afraid I'll start losing things through the cracks.

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On a more somber note, I found out over the weekend that dear grandson Nicholas (age 9) was attacked by 3 pitbulls on Friday. It's a long story but the short version is that he was miraculously able to fend them off without being pushed to the ground. Therefore his face and neck, plus torso, were saved. But his arms, legs and buttocks were severely bit. No stitches were needed because the dogs didn't lacerate his skin. But he's bandaged up and very sore. Tetanus shots, pain meds (though he refused them after the first day), and lots of TLC. The blanketing love of many is healing his emotional and mental wounds, I pray. His, his mom's and mine...plus all the rest of us. The owners were cited but we don't yet know what that means. We pray the dogs will be put down so that no one else can ever be harmed by them.

God have mercy on us all!