A fieldtrip to the museum

Dear Bloggers,

It is springbreak and rain is pooring and the wind is picking up. We have decided to do something indoors unfortunately we did not have one nice day at all. The sun has been out but not longer than ten minutes.
It is another day that is filled with rain, rain and more rain. And the kids have spring break so it is time for a so-called indoors adventure day. With adventure day we are going to do something special together with a goal that we have fun and do something unusual. For example when I was sailing we went by bus or by train as my wife had to work and was using the car. As money has become more and more an issue and my wife has holiday too.

I calculated what it would cost to go by bus and train for the four of us and I was really schocked as our country wants to stimulate to go by public transport. Well let us calculate this.We live in Friesland, and today is the Nature Museum in Leeuwarden on the program. So we need to travel to Leeuwarden. First of all we need to go by bus and then by train. All bustickets for the four of us would cost € 30,10 and traintickets € 24,60 as our kids are under twelve day get a lot of discount. That makes a total cost of  € 54,70 and this is alot of money. If we go by car and that is what we did it will cost me € 5,40 in fuel and € 2,50 for the parking in the city. And that makes € 7,90 in total, ok I should charge some money for maintenance and tax and so on. So to make it easy it would cost me the double price which would be € 15,80 The difference is far too big € 38,90 is a lot of money if you want to stimulate the public transport. In my opinion every ticket should not cost more then € 5,00 for a day.

A great and really nice museum especially for kids! My youngest daughter got a card through school to help your grandparents through the holidays. If you are bringing a grandfather or grandmother you get as a kid free admission.

And I was advised about this museum by a former colleague who lives on the other side of the country. So there you see it again that sometimes you don't have to travel that far to do fun things, because it shows that the Frisians have many exciting creative ideas to make a very cool museum with some simple tools.

A diary of animals is scattered throughout the museum what constitutes a fun quest. This springbreak the Nature Museum Leeuwarden offers children to make there own fun crafts and a quiz a few times a day. There are many things in the museum you need to search or you take look at one of the viewers is also a fun activity, here you see the birds that are living nearby in the fields.

There was an exhibition about "The Secret Garden" and this is Inspired on the book written by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
Over one hundred years ago it was first released, but the story is still popular to generations of children.
The Secret Garden tells the tale of three children who become friends through a special experience. By refurbishing the secret garden it will change something in themselves.

The story
Mary is rightly pointed to the estate of her rich uncle. Nobody pays attention to her and her uncle let it fail. He struggles with a great sorrow, the death of his wife.
After her death leaves her beloved garden close. The house appears to have a child to attend her nephew Collin, who is sick and weak and always stay inside. Together with her friend Dickon, the brother of the maid, she discovers one days at the entrance to the secret garden. If they open the gate appears to be all overgrown and neglected. She cited the garden is going to be refurbished.

Collin is also involved. They smuggle him out to see the garden with his own eyes. As they remove the weeds and plant seeds it creates a special friendship between the three children. The cooperation and interaction with nature helps them to process their grief.
When the roses bloom and the robin has young ones, there is something in them permanently changed.

The exhibition was created by Othilia Verdurmen.
It is an old friend of the museum and also made the Dragon Ming Li who lives in the attic of the museum.
All landscapes, animals and flowers made of textiles. It is an environment not only pleasing to the eye but for all senses.
The objects may be touched and felt and there is very nice music.
The exhibition is very suggestive, much is left to the imagination of the children.

The children loved the part were you went so to say under water in Friesland, because you end up there by going down the stairs as you get the feeling that you are walking under water. Here you see what a lot of thought has been given to this exhibition even a pair of paws of a cow are injected into the ditch. A swan is busy eating and there are some nice surprises.

But there's much more to do and see, such as flying like a bird and milking a cow there is a lot of thought to these things to fit the skills of children
I really find this fun. When I ask how busy it is today when paying the entrance fee, the lady behind the counter tells me that the whole week has been about a thousand visitors a day and that is a lot I think for a midsized museum.

The tinkering takes place in the courtyard of this old former orphanage that lies under a large modern glass canopy. This link between old and new is a nice architectural masterpiece. Here you can design your own craft to take home. There are, except the entrance ticket, no extra charges at all. There is also the great coffee and tea stand which is selfservice and this is also included. This is a nice incidental.

This whale was found dead at one of the islands above the Netherlands.

So if you live in the neighborhood and you have kids who love nature and crafts I would definitely go and pay a visit!

The Old Sailor,