6 October 2015 - Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum

I was so pleased the predicted rain was just a sprinkle as I really didn't want to get wet on my bike again!  We did the morning ride to Plus for groceries before school so we'd all had a bit of exercise before knuckling down to work.  Today was a better school day which meant we had more time for afternoon adventures!

Dam Square and Madame Tussauds

I had promised Tim and Annika that I would take them to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum especially as we had a "two for one" discount voucher!  I had seen Madame Tussaud's years ago in both Amsterdam and London and whilst it was fun for me today, it was probably more fun for me when I was younger and I thought it was something that would be a fun Amsterdam memory for Tim and Annika.  They need a few travel stories to compare and share with their friends who have travelled!

Royal Palace - unfortunately not open until 10 October for visiting.

I felt a bit nostalgic cycling into Amsterdam today, drinking in the lovely old buildings and the sense of freedom one gets on a bike.  The grey skies today were reminiscent of the Holland I had visited before, always in cool seasons.  Grey skies set a good backdrop for nostalgic thoughts!  Of course I hope I might get another chance to visit Amsterdam on a bike but I may not!

Johnny Depp's hand compared to Annika's - very well done.

Now that we know the geography of the city so well, we cycled to Dam Square and locked our bikes up with our extra locks and joined the short queue at Madame Tussauds with a weedy looking Johnny Depp staring at us through the window!

Tim and Johnny

Nelson Mandela, Dalai Lama and Ghandi

Chatting with Barry

Anne Frank

Apart from the fun of posing with various famous people, the actual history of Madame Tussauds and how the models are made was interesting.

Tim translating for Angela Merkel

Marie Grosholtz was born in France in 1761.  From humble beginnings as the daughter of the housekeeper for a physician, Dr Philippe Curtius, Marie was taught the art of wax modelling by the doctor.  She made death masks from severed heads during the French Revolution which were then on public display and paraded through the streets of Paris!  When the doctor died, she inherited his wax model collection.

In 1795, she married Francois Tussaud and called her show: "Madame Tussaud's".  She travelled to London with her show and although not particularly financially rewarding, she did eventually establish herself there and in 1835 she opened her museum.  She died in 1850. Her grandson opened a new museum in 1884.  Now there are Madame Tussauds in many cities.  Amsterdam's Madame Tussauds had a Dutch flavour which was nice as we are in Holland!

Contender for the Dutch throne!

Another interloper...

...and another!! Beatrix didn't mind! She even abdicated so her son could be king!

 The wax models, some of which are better than others, are extremely detailed and take quite some time to make.  Firstly, the person to be "waxed" is measured by calipers and then molds are taken.  The wax models on display are life sized so I was quite surprised to see how puny Johnny Depp and a few others are and how tall Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan are!  Marilyn Monroe and Elle McPherson were also tall and Jennifer Lopez was much more petit than I recall her in the movie "Shall we dance?"  The skin was amazing with tiny freckles and spots and each hair is inserted separately.  Eye colour is matched exactly.  They really are works of art.

Annika getting to know Sean over a drink.

Nick and Tim

George was too distracted to notice his coffee companion.

The new James Bond forgets his suit trousers.

Over the moon

Good disguise, Tim!

I didn't mean to distract him, but he is rather handsome.

Framed

Hannibal - hope he isn't hungry.

The two Marilyns

Hello Possums

The new DJ at Radio Nerherlands

Gorgeous redhead featured on cover.

Looking out to Dam Square

Through the round window...

Salvador Dali

Einstein

"So tell me, Annika, what do you think of Madame Tussauds?"

Rembrandt

Polishing Pablo Picasso's pate

First aid to ear injury - van Gogh

Mona and Annika

Piet Mondrian

On the streets of Amsterdam

At the front of the pellaton.

First prize for Annika!

Tennis champions

Spiderpeople1

Spiderpeople2

Spider people 3

After buying some new pyjamas for Annika and a jacket for Tim, we cycled home.  I really wanted to cycle over the Magere Brug which had been closed for the King's celebration and was now open, so we did!  Just one of those things I wanted to do in Amsterdam!

Magere Brug

While we were enjoying posing with the stars, Karl and Luke were back at NEMO enjoying some more science.  Luke can never tire of science museums!

Bart, Karl and Anneke in our kitchen

After dinner, Anneke and Bart came over armed with delicious cake and we had another very lovely time with them.  No wonder Holland feels at home  when we have friends who can come for coffee! 

5 October 2015 - While the fine weather lasts we cycled into Amsterdam and visited the Diamant Museum

Officially today is the start of school, 4th term, last for this academic year.  It also means that it really isn't too long until we are back in Australia.  However, I am not counting down as I want to enjoy each day of our year away and that means that if the weather is fine, I want to keep cycling in Holland and making the most of our time here.

So, yes, school was an effort for the junior member!  The first unit this term is on transport and we have been able to be flexible with the program to include bikes and river transport for Luke's project work instead of the prescribed task which included building a big model vehicle - not possible whilst we are travelling.

Cycling by the river was lovely of course and my one request was to cycle under the arches at the Rijksmuseum again as it is so much fun!!  We parked our bikes and Tim went off to see some of the Rijksmuseum and the rest us walked to the Dam Square.  Our intention was to see the Nieuw Kerk but it is currently housing a Rome exhibition and we couldn't see the church....and our next goal, the Royal Palace was closed as it was a Monday.  All was not lost as it was lovely walking down some different streets including what must be the antique dealers' road with lots of Delft tiles and ships in bottles.

The little we could see of Nieuw Kerk

Looks grand!

At least one royal family member is buried there.

We decided to go the the Diamant (diamond) Museum opposite Museumplein.  It is a small but informative museum and just big enough to see everything in an hour or so.  There was a good short documentary and sparkling displays.  My favourite part was about diamond robberies in the last century, one of which was never solved!  The replica crowns of European royalty were also impressive.

Afternoon snack outside the Diamant Museum

Yet again we seemed to time our bike ride home in peak hour but it wasn't too hair raising and we all  made it home safely.

30 September 2015 - Hop On - Hop Off Canal Tour of Amsterdam

Today was the perfect day for our canal tour of Amsterdam.  Anneke and Sandra van der Schaaf had kindly given us" their "two for one" vouchers for some tourist attractions in Amsterdam which we saved for a boat tour with Ali. 

Heading off on our boat!

 Karl wasn't keen on  a touristy type of tour but the rest of us were keen so cycled into town and locked our bikes on "our" bridge and walked to the Hop On Hop Off  boat stop.   The tour provided earphones and commentary about the sights we were  passing.  As it happened, the gas man was coming to check something in our house, so it was probably good that Karl stayed home to translate if needed!  He is loving putting his Dutch to good use!

Ticket!

Just under a low bridge

Listening to the audio

Cool!

Traffic jam in the canals

Love the scenery

Blue skies, beautiful buildings

 First stop - Anne Frank's house where the queues were long - but we hopped off there to find a spot for lunch in the sun before boarding the next boat.

Lunch spot by a canal

South Church

Relaxed!

Amsterdam has 250 bridges whereas Venice has 400!

My girl!!

Interesting architecture

On the Ij

Near Central Station

Bike park - you'd have to really remember where you parked your bike!

Wind clock at the station: showing North, East, South and West

Riding a dog - Central Station

Next stop: Central Station - where we also hopped off, took the ferry to North Amsterdam, bought some olie bollen, hopped back on the ferry and waited for our next Hop on Hop off boat.  We were in the right place at the right time to receive some Starbucks samples of frappaccinos!  Delicious!

Starbucks free sample!

Heading back to the canals from the Ij

The boat crossed the Ij passing the Eye Museum and NEMO and round about and back onto the canals.  It was very lovely just chugginf along.  I particularly liked peering inside some of the houseboats and checking out the inside of the boats!

Houseboats

Many of Amsterdam's buildings are on odd angles:  some because of the foundations being built in the marshes some centuries ago are now rotting and others were purposely built leaning a bit forward for the ease of transferring items through upper windows.  Many of the buildings have hooks to help lift furniture and we have seen a few removals/deliveries in progress.

Lovely little crooked cafe

On the Amstel

The Blue Bridge over the Amstel

 The Intercontinental Hotel is for the rich and famous after a physio who had the foresight to "treat the problems of the wealthy" established a health spa there.  We cycle past it most days when we ride into Amsterdam and it does look rather posh!

The Intercontinental Hotel

 Once we had done the whole circuit and were back near the Rijksmuseum we decided to get off the boat and make use of the facilities at the Rijksmuseum.  Tim and Luke played on the "Iamsterdam" sign whilst Ali and I sat in the Rijksmuseum gardens sipping coffee and Annika sat with us, whilst we watched kids played "dare" with the fountain there.

If your name starts with "A"!

"Dam" it if it doesn't!

And where is the taxi?  On the ffing of course!!

Nearly home on the Binnenweg

Unfortunately we hit the peak hour traffic again and the masses of bikes were on the bike tracks again but we made it home safely.