A Wandering WeyrCat...

The National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam focuses on the history of the persecution of Jews in the Netherlands. It opened in March 2024, to misplaced protests by anti-Israel-Pro-Palestine protestors (I later learned they were there to protest against the Israeli president , who came to the opening). I visited the week after it opened, with a bit of nervousness. First thing you notice is having your ticket checked before you can get in the lobby. Second thing is the airlock-style atrium . You have to enter the outer-door, which has to completely shut before the inner door can be opened by a second security guard. It's a MUSEUM, not a military installation. And yet, apparently there was fear it would be the target of attacks. This is the world we live in.  [The Museum makes up both the brown & white building, and the white cement building on the right. Photo from PowerTraveler ] The building itself is historic (like so much of Amsterdam). It was the The Reformed Teacher Trainin...

Straat is the Amsterdam street art museum. It features everything from graffiti to amazing ethereal pieces two stories high. It's houses in an industrial building near the port, and share a large outdoor area that's covered in graffiti and street art too! I took the boys to kick off winter vacation.  The building is known for this huge and beautiful mural of Anne Frank, reading "Let me be myself". The 240 m² mural by Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra (1).  The inside is an open space lined with double rows of enormous canvases. The looped path is divided by standing exhibits and marked by painted animal foot prints.  We took the proffered children's scavenger hunt and let it guide us. Hobbit was really taken by the scale of some of the pieces.  Their favorite part might have been this upcycled (artcycled?) wooden shed done over with string and geometric wood panels. They spent nearly ten minutes pouring over every inch of the insid...

I chaperoned a student research trip in Croatia with Operation Wallacea !  J and I took eight DP1 students (11th grade) to Croatia for two weeks. Over these two weeks, students would participate in research projects, providing baseline population data for organisms outside Krka National Park and in the No Take (fish) Zone around Silba Island.  First week is in the Krka National Park! Day 1 Schiphol to Spit *The Flight went well, students were great. Short flight: just two hours from Amsterdam.  *We didn't find the gift shop until too late! The Spit Airport has no tchotchky shops. How un-American. (This became an inside joke as students looks for souvenirs.) * Road trip! We drove two hours through chaparral with limestone buildings and walls. It felt like Spain and Arizona had a baby.  * Operation Wallace hostel near Krka National Park! Crew is very friendly. Hostel is bare concrete but comfortable. It is very hot (35⁰C)...

Today we took the kids to the Hague to visit the Sea Life Aquarium. It's a bit of a trip from Amstelveen, on public transit, but our Amsterdam aquarium has been closed for repair the whole time we've lived here. And our Tante Barb is in town, so, we went.  We got there just in time for the Shark and Ray feeding, and the boys got a nice seat next to a sleepy spotted dogfish cuddled up behind a cannon!  The very next room is for kids, with coloring tables and a cool projected aquarium to turn your drawing into a swimming fish! I do kinda wish these rooms weren't at the beginning of the attraction, because it's always pulling teeth getting kids out of these places. BUT it did have a machine for us to get caffeine.  The caiman wasn't out (sad pout) but the kids liked the Amazon room. The Piranha tank had thick while mist rolling off it and the opposite wall had a beautiful 4 foot high waterfall. It was cool.  ...