Amsterdam Museum

I have gone many times to the courtyard at the Amsterdam Museum but I had never actually gone inside. The court yard is this peaceful oasis off a very small and crowded shopping street- but today, with museumkart in hand, I went.

What a great show! There is an exhibit on (not clear if it's always or current) called "Amsterdam DNA" which documents the whole history of the city, basically starting in the year 1000. Did you know Amsterdam center is pretty much all built on wooden piles? Like a jetty? That it was basically 'ruled' by wealthy Catholics and not royalty for ages? There was of course, much much more but it was really interesting to see artifacts, maps, and history from so many different periods. The period where my great grandparents would have been my age now, and images etc from when my opa was born were particularly of interest: you could ride a bike though the city streets (old footage played as you cycled a bike). FYI he was born in 1899

This image in red was also interesting: at some point a pulley system was invented to save horses that accidentally fell into the canal. Other stats of other things saved.... 14 lucky cows. Probably on their way to another rather unlucky fate.