Museum Geelvinck Hinlopen Huis

Museum Geelvinck-Hinlopen is a canal-side mansion in Amsterdam that I visited with the I amsterdam card. The house was built for Albert Geelvinck (1647-1693) and Sara Hinlopen (1660-1749). Albert Geelvinck came from an upperclass family, who had gained their wealth through merchant shipping. He married in 1680 to Sara Hinlopen, who came from a family of Flemish cloth merchants.

There are many gardens on the estate, the back garden is in the Renaissance style and the front garden is formal and symmetrical in the French style with a large pond and fountain.

Entering the museum to the main floor there are four rooms open to the public. On my visit I was guided around by one of the lovely women that work at the museum. She gave me a nice tour of the rooms, telling me about their interesting history and decorations.

At the time of my visit the museum was hosting a piano festival and there was some beautiful playing going on as I wandered through the rooms.

The museum is free with the I amsterdam card or €9.00 for adults. It is open everyday except for Tuesday from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm. 
Closed on Tuesdays 

The Artis Zoo

The Artis Zoo was the first attraction I used my I amsterdam card with. I was super excited to start the day off with going to the zoo as zoos are one of my favourite types of attractions to visit. I just love animals. Artis, which is short for Natura Artis Magistra is the oldest zoo in the Netherlands and one of the oldest zoos of mainland Europe. The zoo also contains an aquarium and a planetarium as well as a fairly large art collection.

The zoo was founded in 1838 and was initially only open to members. Starting in 1851 it was opened to the public during the month of September. In 1920, it was opened year-round to the public, but September remains discount month. I might have missed discount month but my visit was included in the price of my I amsterdam card so I had it pretty good anyways.

The Rijksmuseum

The Rijksmuseum is a Netherlands national museum dedicated to arts and history in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square very close to the Van Gogh Museum, the Sedelijk Museum and the Concertgebouw.

The museum was founded in The Hague in 1800 and moved to Amsterdam in 1808 where it was first located in the Royal Palace and later in the Trippenhuis. The current main building was designed by Pierre Cuypers and first opened its doors in 1885. On April 13, 2013, after a ten-year renovation which cost €375 million, the main building was reopened. In 2013, it was the most visited museum in the Netherlands with a record of 2.2 million visitors.

The museum has on display 8,000 objects of art and history, from their total collection on 1 million objects from the years 1200-2000 among which are some masterpieces by Rembrandt, Frans Hals, and Johannes Vermeer.

Monday Wanderings in Amsterdam

These photos are all taken on Monday 13th of October when I was wandering around Amsterdam. That morning I had gone to the Anne Frank House as soon as it had opened before going to the Pancake Bakery and enjoying a massive pancake labelled as their Canadian pancake. It was delicious and filled with bacon and amazingness.  I wandered to the Noordermarkt, which on Mondays transforms into a large flea market.  There is lots of fabric, clothes, home goods and cosmetics on sale. The market seemed to go on forever but I eventually found my way to the other end. With no real plans I walked over to Haarlemstraat and enjoyed the sunshine as I made my way towards Centraal Station with its large parking for bikes in search of the I amsterdam card at the tourist centre.  After picking up the card I ventured across the city to check out both the Waterloopleinmarkt and the Albert Cuyp Markt. Leaving empty handed at all the markets I was left wishing I had found something to take home but nothing caught my eye. I ended up on Museumplein where I popped into the Rijksmuseum to have a gander at the beautiful art. I really enjoyed the museum with its large collection of Dutch masters. I headed from the museum over to Pathe City and watched the 100 Foot Journey which was very good.

Anne Frank House

On the morning of Monday Oct 13, I walked from my hostel to the Anne Frank House. Having been unable to obtain tickets online when I checked about a week in advance of my trips. I had made a mental note to get the tickets online but forgot until it was too late. I opted to head to the famous house an hour before it opened its doors in an attempt to beat the queue and not have to wait too long. The weather did not look too happy but rain was keeping away for now. I arrived at the house to be the first one in line. As I was taking photos an American couple arrived and stood below the entrance sign and I headed over to queue behind them perfectly happy to be second. Sure enough more people started to arrive and soon after half an hour the queue had rounded the building and was getting longer.

Anne Frank was a German girl living in Amsterdam with her family when the Nazi occupation forced her family and four other people to hide from persecution in hidden rooms at the read of the 17th-century canal house that was her father's factory. While confined in the Secret Annex, Anne wrote in a diary.  After two years of living in the tiny space, the group was betrayed and transported to concentration camps. Anne and her sister Margo ended up in Bergen-Belsen where they died in March 1945. 

Her father Otto, the only member of the Frank family to survive returned to Amsterdam to find that Anne's diary had been saved by a friend. He managed to have it published in 1947.

The museum opened on May 3 1960 and preserves the hiding place and has a permanent exhibition on the life and times of Anne Frank. In 2013, the museum had 1.2 million visitors and was the third most visited museum in the Netherlands after the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum.

One of the things that moved me the most was this quote by Otto Frank, 

"And My Conclusion Is, Since I Had Been in Very Good Terms With Anne, That Most Parents Don't Really Know Their Children." 

He had thought he had known his daughter really well but from reading her diary, her most inner and private thoughts he realised that he did not know his daughter at all.

I suggest queueing early if you do not have a chance to book a ticket online or going when the museum quiets down. Go here to buy tickets on the museums website. Admission is €9 for adults and there is no free entry with the I amsterdam card. Check website for opening hours as they vary throughout the year.

The queue after being inside the museum for an hour.

Katten Kabinet

After checking out the Amsterdam Museum I walked along Herengracht to Katten Kabinet or Cat Cabinet in English. Katten Kabinet is described as an "unusual museum displaying feline art." I personally think there is nothing unusual about that. More like, that it is amazing!  The art museum costs € 6.00 but with the I Amsterdam card you can get 25% off the admission price.  As I did not yet have my card I paid full price but found the art museum worth every penny as I am a cat lover. I later found at my hostel on one of those attraction discount card walls a card for a gift with admission for the Katten Kabinet and wonder what the gift would be.

The highlight of the museum I would have to say was the cats inside it. I was able to pet both the cats. The black one scratched me a bit on my hand but with my longing for my cat Ricky, I thought it was pretty awesome at the time. I loved all the cat art and the fact that that was was what the museum was focused on. Animals play a big part in art and often featured in paintings. When I was in Madrid with Jess we counted how many dogs we could find in paintings as we walked through El Prado and we reached over 40.