Amsterdam - The Golden Age

I was on a mission in Amsterdam!! Had to gather information about Henry Hudson and his Halve Maen ship! So first stop was the Scheepvaartmuseum! I spent half of my morning in the library reading books and articles on Henry and his adventurous journeys way back in 1610/1611. After I finished my research I did a tour through the museum itself. And as it has way too much stuff to see in one day, I concentrated on a few exhibitions, like "See you in the Golden Age". This a short summary from their homepage:

"In the Netherlands, we refer to the 17th century as our Golden Age. In those days, the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands was one of the richest and most powerful countries in the world. And that was primarily thanks to seafaring. 

No country in the world had as many ships as the Netherlands. Thanks to seafaring, trade flourished. The Dutch East India Company was founded in Amsterdam and developed into the 'world’s storehouse': goods from the four corners of the world could be had here from the company’s massive stocks.

It was not just trade that flourished in the Golden Age: Dutch artists and scientists of the time are still world-famous today. The Republic was also known for its tolerance, something that attracted many people from all over the world.

But the Golden Age also has its dark side. Many of the Dutch merchants who became rich through trade with far-flung countries were ruthless, even cut-throat businessmen - literally. Some wiped out whole villages to get what they wanted."

The biggest attraction of the Scheepvaartmuseum is the real size replica of a VOC ship, the "Amsterdam". I made a ton of pictures here, I'll just share a few with you:

Another museum of interest is the Science Museum NEMO, also located in the harbour, and only footsteps away from the Scheepvaartmuseum. As the Scheepvaartmuseum was rather quiet, NEMO was loaded with (screaming) kids of all ages and I just did not feel like joining the crowd that day. Sorry NEMO....... 

Instead I took a long hike to the Rijksmuseum, which is being under construction right now, and reopens again in 2013. It was getting late and I decided not to do the whole tour. Instead I visited the museum shop and found (& bought) another nice book and took some pictures outside, from the "I Amsterdam" sculpture which is very popular with tourists. Well, I ain't a tourist right? Am I?????

"I amsterdam" behind the Rijksmuseum

Hans found a sushi bar just around the corner from our hotel and we decided to have dinner there.

"Zushi", Amstel 20, 1017AA Amsterdam