The Enkhuizen, NL, Experience

Remember when we took grandson Nicholas in July to the Zuiderzee open-air museum in Enkhuizen to get an overall experience of Dutch culture, both then and now?  And how at the last minute (of his 2-week trip) he bought what he called his "clutch gift?"

Well, it was ready for pick-up before our trip to Atlanta next week, so...Astrid and I went to pick it up this past Saturday, a 1.5-hour drive to the north of us.

We parked near one of the city's landmarks, the St. Pancras Church (Zuiderkerk) from the 15th cent.

 From the church, we walked to calligrapher Harrie's city atelier (not the one in the museum) 

to get the goods:  a family-name plaque for Nicholas..."Grannan."

He's gonna love it.

Harrie gave his best of Dutch hospitality, offering us koffie and lots of chitty-chat,

while, you know me...I snapped away at the organized mess!

THAT was the main goal of the day.

We could have turned around and gone home, of course, but...no way!

We walked through the city on our way to see the one part of the open-air museum 

we hadn't yet seen in our two times there...the indoor ship exhibition.

After walking all the way to the end of the city's pedestrian street,

we found the portal that looked out on the open-air part of the museum and got our bearings

(with those 3 chalk-factory chimneys as a landmark).

Back through the portal again we immediately found the indoor museum.

Near the inside entrance, before you see the ships, is this work of art by Clare Twomey.

It's called "Monument" and is "a playful interpretation of the concept that the remainders 

of household goods do have a cultural value."

OMG.  I have mixed emotions about this one...with shades of holocaust in mind.

But the ships.  The wooden ships.

"These historical, wooden vessels belong to the most valuable items in the museum’s collection."

Every little detail....prop...just as it once was.

 Yes, we were short of eyes.

 You want to know about sailsmanship?  Look and be amazed.

Totally worth the stop!

And on that note, we walked back into town for lunch.

Astrid deserved every mussel she ate...there at the Zuiderzee.

 Coming and going, you know I'll find them if they're there!

  By now it's hard for me to miss them...the many gable stones.

Enkhuizen got city rights in 1355.

At the peak of its power, it was one of the most important harbor cities in the Netherlands,

losing its position later to Amsterdam.

But take me to the Zuiderzee and to Enkhuizen any day.

Even for Astrid (and her "guardian angel," Stuart) it was a restorative day.
Thank you, Nicholas, for making us go back...and see you next week!

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.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

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!

Planes, Trains, Automobiles...and...Blimps?

There's actually quite a long story to this which I'm not going to bore you with today. But it does have to do with hunting for gable stones and finding out that these aren't! But I just can't have them go to waste, can I!

First of all, these 5 stone carvings are on a side wall at the Rijksmueum here in Amsterdam, not too far from our apartment. While Donica was home in Atlanta this past holiday weekend, I was out walking, specifically looking for GABLE stones, which are plentiful on the museum walls.
This obviously was/is a transportation series, so we have to start with the horse and rider.

BTW, each stone is approximately 12" (30cm) square.

If you squint, you can see the airplanes. But I had to chuckle over how BIG the blimp is in comparison to the planes from way back then.

And, of course, everything else fell into place.

Actually, I think automobiles came before trains (?), but not in the movie!

And when did the sailboats come? HELP!

Then the big ships, of course, which brought many a European over to America back in those days.
Did I tell you that Donica and I will sail one of these mammoth ships at the end of October on a 12-night Mediterranean cruise? Yup. But that'll be another post.

Too bad these aren't gable stones, right? So as not to lose them forever to my Photographic Black Hole, here they are preserved for those of you who always wanted to see the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Oh yes, the inside is spectacular as well (which we saw 9 years ago)!

Donica arrived back in A'dam this morning, safe-n-sound. She took a 3-hour nap and then went to work. What a woman!