Monday, September 16, 2013

Open Monument Weekend

This past weekend was Open Monument Weekend in the Netherlands. In this country-wide event historical buildings that are not normally open to the public, throw open their doors and invite any and all in to walk around free of charge. We tried our best to participate but were mostly thwarted in our efforts. Most of the monuments were only open from 12-5. Since Leif and Klaus's nap time is 1-4 we were hard pressed to make it to even the ones in town. We really wanted to see Heman Boerhaave's and Christiaan Huygens homes since we had just learned so much about them from the Boerhaave Museum but they were both too far away to make it work with naptime.
  After nap on Saturday we did make it to one of the homes on the Rapenburg, a beautiful street which follows one of the canals and boasts some of the grand old homes from the golden age. The house is a now an office building and very little of the original ornament remains. The facade was still impressive but the interior was a bit disappointing.
 On Sunday a few buildings opened at 10 which is how we got to see the Regentenkamer of the Merman Burg. This "courtyard" as it is called was a home for widows and single women beginning in the 1600s. Now it is all apartments but the governor's room still remains in tact and displays a fine collection of portraits of the former governors of the courtyard. The room is for rent for small parties and dinners. Any one want to go in on it with us? You might not be able to tell from the pictures but that is velvet damask on the walls. Velvet damask!!

 Also Klaus has almost join the ranks of the bipedal:
 
  On the whole he still prefers crawling but he is getting there. Should I buy him wellies for our England trip? or knee pads?

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Buyers remorse and the coolest museum in Leiden

 In my post about Klaus's birthday I described my intentions to get his first year pictures taken at a corny Sears-type portrait studio. I have had success!...well kind of. I ended up taking Leif and Klaus to one of those pop-up photography studios in the lobby of a local grocery store. The deal is that the photo shoot costs only 2.50 Euro and that entitles you to one free 5x7 photo. Your free photo and an optional photo package can be picked up 2 weeks later at the same grocery store. You do not get to choose the photos or sizes for the optional package but you can pick and choose among what they come up with. I was willing to take a chance on this. The photographer was incredibly nice and, while the Klaus wasn't on his best photo shoot behavior, I was pretty sure she had gotten some good shots. Last Wednesday I excitedly went to the grocery to get our pictures. And all afternoon I beat myself up over how stupid I had been.The photos came out ok but the photo studio picked out mostly ones of Leif for the optional package. I guess I should have told the photographer that I was mostly interested in getting photos of Klaus. So you say "Ok just don't buy them." But for whatever reason (I should never make decisions right before lunch) I bought all 7 sheets. So you say "Ok seven sheets. That can't be too much especially since the package is advertised as 50% off the real price." The package was 99 Euro ($130). The instant I bought them I knew I had made a mistake. I asked the woman if I could order more pictures of Klaus (there are not enough in the original package to give as Christmas gifts to the grandparents and great grandparents). She gave me a code where I could go online and see the rest of the photos and order more. Here is where I started to feel a bit scammed- there were better pictures of Klaus in the online photo bank that they had not printed and included in the photo package. So you say "Ok just order some of those" Well you do not get the 50% price when you order them online. My motherly guilt was so stifling that I was ready to plunk down another $87 to get the photos I thought Klaus deserved. But sanity kicked in- I've been scammed so I feel justified in copying the photos I bought on my photo printer when we get home. Take that Kids Profi Portrait! So you say "Juls, aren't you an artist? Shouldn't you be sympathetic to this modern method of portraiture? You liked the photographer. Don't you want her to be able to make a living this way? This is the cost of it." Arrgh! Ok ok. I will buy some more. Just don't tell Kurt.

Dr and Dr Andrsen's discount home surgery
Mermaid Klaus
  Enough of that. I want to tell you about the coolest museum in Leiden. The Museum Boerhaave, is the Dutch National Museum of Science and Medicine. It is located in central Leiden in the 15th century Caecilia Nunnery/Hospital. We had not visited it until now because we figured an early science and medicine museum would probably not be all that interesting to children. Some time ago the museum must have figured this out as well and they have made some of the most awesome kid centered exhibits ever. As we expected, there is a very adult section of the museum containing old inventions and medical supplies displayed in glass cabinets with labels. But there is also Treasure Island, an interactive exhibit for kids age 8-12 that looks like it was designed by Terry Gilliam (of Monty Python fame) and Edward Gorey. Everything was in Dutch at a higher level than Kurt or I can read yet but it was still very entertaining. The exhibit is all about exploration and early science and was inspired by the Dutch Golden Age. There were lots of bizarre devices that made taxidermied animals move, the stem of a ship complete with figure head (well minus the head- see photo), a sea filled with sea monsters, and cabinets displaying old medical devices. There was a section on celestial navigation and several computer stations where you had to answer questions in order to earn stamps on your map (luckily you did not have to answer the questions right on the first try).
  Outside, in the building's fabulous courtyard, are several interactive displays that teach physics principles but are also just plain fun. Luckily Kurt was there to explain them. Otherwise I would have just assumed they were sculptures that I didn't understand.
  Up stairs is the Vindingrijk (Resourceful), an interactive exhibit that demonstrates the inventions and observations of Christiaan Huygens, a Golden Age mathematician and philosopher who studied at Leiden University. Among other things, Huygens developed the pendulum clock, an early projector, a microscope, and the leaf spring carriage. In the exhibit kids can play with/in a pendulum clock, a gear wall, a marble run wall, a rocket ship, and a Huygens style telescope, projector and microscope. There is also a gigantic Rube Goldberg type tower were kids can crank up a bucket of balls to the top and then watch them dribble down to the bottom in a series of complicated tubes and drops. Surrounding the exhibit are banners of drawings from Huygens sketchbooks that very much resemble DaVinci's journals. Huygens appears to have been of a similar mind to the great artist and inventor. Unfortunately the exhibit only runs until the end of Octomber but I can't wait to see what they have next!



 
 

Monday, September 2, 2013

Volkenkunde, Nordwijk, bouncy castles, oh my!

Hello everyone! Sorry yes I know- There was no blog post last week from your favorite ex-pat family. I apologize. I was excitedly busy planning our mid-October trip to England (yay for totally off-season non tropical vacations!) and decided to comb the web for great deals on B&Bs rather than report to you on a relatively quiet week.
 You didn't miss much. Kurt worked and the kids and I followed our typical regimen of morning outting followed by lunch, nap, afternoon park time, dinner, and bed. On Satuday we went to the market on the markt and on Sunday we took advantage of the city of Leiden's generosity toward its children- a totally free bouncy castle fun park. It was all part of the week of back-to-school prep that happens here just as in the US (even though their summer break is considerably shorter). Several of the inflatable contraptions had a water element and despite the low 70s temps a lot of kids were jumping in but not my little Norsemen. They were content to bounce in the comfort of dry pants.
 On Sunday night we briefly visited the ZomerJam festival that was set up in the park across the canal from our apartment. There was a graffiti art contest, basketball, skateboarding, and breakdancing competititions. Leif especially enjoyed the breakdancing and he and Kurt have been studying you-tube videos and testing out some moves ever since. The festival was supposed to end at 11 p.m. but I was pretty skeptical that this would happen given the number of water bongs I saw and the Grolsch truck parked in the middle. But to my surprise the bells tolled 11 and the music shut off. Done and done.

This past weekend we were in the mood to do something touristy so we visited the Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde, the ethnology museum here in Leiden. We didn't get the stay very long (naptime was looming) but we quickly perused their collection of Native American, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese collections of artifacts and artwork. They also have collections from Oceania, Africa and Asia which we plan to go back and see later. It is a quiet museum with soft music, low light and a generally calming atmosphere. I would like to spend more time there especially as it made me realize how inadequate my knowledge of non-western art is. I couldn't really explain much to Leif and consequently he was probably even more disinterested than he would be normally.


On Sunday we realized that it was September already and that we had never made it to the other nearby beach town of Nordwijk. As we pedaled the 40 minutes to get there we were hoping against hope that it would feel warm and summery there. Our hope was derailed utterly by a cold grey windy beach. But the kids, as kids do, tried to make the best of it. Leif and Klaus still dug in the sand, ran away from the waves, and picked up seashells. Leif had a particularly liked chasing the sea foam blobs when the wind caught them. We marveled at all of the kitesurfers skittering around the waves and wondered if their wetsuits could really keep out the chill.
  After about an hour of having our ears battered by the cold north sea wind we walked around Nordwijk a bit. It is much the same as Katwijk; a little built up but still quiet and not overly commercial. We found the main drag- a pedestrian only street with all the same stores that seem to be in every Dutch town (Hema, Zeeman, etc). It all felt very familiar and it dawned on me that this coming Saturday will mark the halfway point of our time here. It now gets dark at around 8:30-a stark contrast from the 10:30 sunset a few months ago. There is a chill in the air and fall is creeping in. I am sad and relieved at the same time.