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Day 661, 25 Mar' 16 (Good Friday), Van Loon Museum, Foam Photography, De-dogged. We have discovered the hard way that our gorgeous little dog has serious separation anxiety issues and can't be left alone for more than 2 minutes without barking, yipping, crying and sending the neighbours barmy. So today we took him along on our museum jaunt (which meant one of us went in and the other sat in the hall... parenthood? methinks not). First stop and not far from home it was the Van Loon Museum. If nothing else it was a great opportunity to see the interior of a very posh canal house. Keizersgracht 672 was built in 1672 and it's first inhabitant was Ferdinand Bol - a famous pupil of Rembrandt's. The Van Loon name (which I think could be Dutch slang for Money) goes back aways in Amsterdam - Willem Van Loon was a cofounder of the Dutch East India Company in 1602 and his grandson was the Mayor of Amsterdam. They rose to nobility in the early 1800s and became affluent bankers. In 1884 they bought the house on Keizersgracht as a wedding gift for their son, the latest Willem van Loon and his wife Thora. The house itself is a beautiful place to explore and the family still live in the upper levels (which demonstrates how big it is!) We also enjoyed an exhibition devoted to European fashion trends withing the family from 1850 to the present day - most fascinating was when massive family oil paintings were married up with the actual suits or gowns worn. Pictured above is one of our favourite outfits - a Dutch Dior. Made legitimately under licence right here in Amsterdam. Our other visit today was the FOAM photography museum - just a quick run around as it was getting dark and damp outside with Luca and he was shivering. One of the best things about Amsterdam is the Dutch National Museumkaart - there are around 40 museums and galleries that give us free entry in return for our €59 investment. The card is valid for a year... but our goal is to get to every single place that interests us within 3 weeks. To that end, and to allow us to leave the house without Luca for the big museums, he has gone on holiday for a week with a friend who lives nearby... looks like Simba the cat will enjoy some peace and tranquility in his absence. But however will we wake up in the mornings!?
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