Holland: Arhnem

Arhnem Open Air Museum (the Netherlands).  In one word: HUGE!  Two words: TOTALLY WORTH IT!  Wait, that’s three words.  Never mind.  Point is, we went there and we all (including the kids) had fun.  Let me tell you the best thing about an open air museum: it’s outside!!  (mostly)  Better for the kids, for sure.

Let me show you. 

Take a tram instead of walking.  Here Alex checks the map to make sure we know where we’re going.  Can’t go wrong when the tram goes in a circle.

Surprisingly, one of our favorite spots to visit was also the first stop on our tour.  It was the house of collections.  Basically the museum gathered odd and/or impressive collections from around the Netherlands and put them in this building.  There really was not rhyme or reason to the collections they chose to put up here.

For instance: the largest collection of money banks (??)

How about this most impressive collection of air sickness bags?!  Aye, aye, aye!!

Not the biggest collection I’m sure, but the display wouldn’t be complete without a gaggle of garden gnomes (we added a few ourselves).

Really what the museum is meant to do is introduce visitors to the history and culture of the Netherlands by showing life as it is and was through the years.

Like this example of a mid-20th century neonatal center. 

An old dining room, complete with table, chairs, plates and hungry children.

Now this one is interesting.  At first glance you might think that Mark is just doing the disco in the back garden.  In reality, Mark is dancing the disco in the back garden, but it’s where the garden is located that is a bit different.  The museum had a set of four rowhouses, each set up in a different era (like the 1970s, 1870s, 1770s, or something like that) and inside each house was an example of what a house might look like in relation to childbirth.  Three of the houses (including the 1970s one, which also was playing 70s music – hence the dancing Mark) were sort of happy occasions, celebrating the birth of a child in the home.  One of them, not so much.  It had a casket with a mannequin baby inside it.  (infant mortality was a real problem in the 1600s and 1700s)  We decided to move on and so should you now that I spoiled the mood.

Let’s talk about cows.  That’s a happy topic.  Here the kids are “milking” cardboard cows.

And Katya the Dutch milk-maid.  We really should get one of those yolks for home.

True to his heritage, Watsons always look good in the seat of tractor.

In this children’s hands-on display, there was furniture from different ages.  The kids’ job was to try out the furniture, then pick which ones they would like in their house or bedroom. 

Katya wants the luxury royal covered bed. (in your dreams)

Mark just wants a bed with a ladder (“cool”)

Mark wants a horse and buggy too.

Look, it’s a windmill . . . in the Netherlands!!  Surprise! (Mark, why are you on the ground)

It’s a famous farmhouse (not sure how a farmhouse becomes famous, but this one apparently is).  Let’s go inside and check it out, shall we?

Alex does the moon walk in wooden clogs.  Not to be confused with clogging.

And that’s the tour of the famous farmhouse.  Let’s move on to the playground.  There we spend a good chunk of our time.  Resting?  Just Lyana.  The rest of us were riding the rope snake swingy thing that went really high and (thankfully) no one fell off.

Okay everyone, pose for the camera!  Good job Alex and Katya.  Mark, seriously, what are you doing?

Yup.  Best picture ever.

The laundry room next.  Here, we learned how the old-timers used to bleach and clean linens.

Those buckets are full of hot, steaming, water (and bleach) and the wooden beams leading into them are moving up and down like pistons, smashing the sheets clean.  Why should you care?  Let’s just say after visiting this building, I will never again complain about doing the laundry at home (not that I do much of it anyway, but that’s not the point).

Sadly, this was not the last time we would walk through the laundry building.  Later in this post you’ll find out the circumstances for our second visit.

Of all the pictures we could have taken of our lunch, this is the one we got.  Not us eating and enjoying lunch at a tiny table just big enough for two slices of bacon.  But a photo of the guy making our little pancake thingies which were then served obliterated with powdered sugar (‘excuse me ma’am, I think you forgot my pancakes.  All I got was this plate of lumpy powdered sugar.  Oh, wait, never mind.  I just found them.”) and chocolate sauce or brown sugar.  Next time, just skip the pancakes and go straight to the old-fashioned sweet shop next door and get too much black licorice flavored gummy things, huge lollipops and marshmallow triangles.  Oh wait, we did that too.

Outside the café. Can I just say those bikes are a lot harder to ride than they look.  Alex, are you getting on or off the bike?

There were about a dozen of these bikes for kids to ride.  No brakes and no chains.  Pedals attached directly to the wheel.  If you stopped pedaling, the bike stopped right where you were.  It was like the kids suddenly froze in place, then tipped over in slow motion. 

After a few attempts at the bikes, Mark (thankfully) chose a safer mode of travel.  Well, safer for him anyway.  It didn’t protect the people directly in front of him when he wasn’t watching where he was going and then suddenly couldn’t’ steer.

It’s a proven fact.  Three children will not eat sweets at the same rate.

Oh, this boat.  If only you knew the trouble we had with this boat.  Well, not this first trip anyway.  It’s just a rope attached to a boat, and to get to the other side you just pull on the rope.

Quick diversion – this a drawbridge.   They’re everywhere.

Okat, back to the boat.  Continuing the first trip on the boat.  It was the second trip attempt that did not fare too well.  As we were getting in the boat from that dock on the right, I swung my foot backward and crack, my foot met Mark’s nose and that was that.  Blood and tears came gushing out immediately.  The boatmen behind us came rushing over, visibly concerned.  A first aid kit was sent for.  Several staff members came offering assistance (if it weren’t for the gravity of the situation, it would have been funny with all these people from the 1800s crowded around us).  “Do you want to call help?  It could be broken!” they said of course.  And what I wanted to say was, “He’s a tough guy, he’ll pull through.  I’m a doctor, I can handle this thank you.  Please don’t call the ambulance.  He’s already been in the horse and buggy today.”  In reality, “thank you thank you yes I’ll take that ok he’s fine yes I’ll go with you I think the bleeding stopped now there’s blood all over the both of us oh look there’s a big red puddle on the ground now ok you’ll get that thanks.”

And then the nice Dutch lady took us back to the laundry room (see, I told you it would make a return) through to a little kitchen area where she sat Mark down, cleaned him him up and decided that his nose was indeed not broken.

Then we went back to the boat and crosses the pond successfully. 

And everyone was fine after that.  We did some more fun stuff.  Kids never even complained that there was too much walking (at least I can’t remember) and at the end of the day, all was well.

And now you have to go too.

Rob