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Day 664, 28 Mar '16, Jewish Cultural Quarter, Canals Cruise, Maritime Museum.
We were up bright and early this morning (Easter Monday) with grand plans of launching into the day with our favourite bargain breakfast at HEMA (just downstairs). It runs from 9 am to 10 am and given that everything has been open all Easter weekend, we were surprised to find the centre locked up. Hmmm. National Disaster? What have we missed? Trotted home to our very low breakfast supplies and googled it. Yup. Closed Easter Monday morning. Regrouped, scraped together brekkie then headed off on foot to start the day at the Jewish Historical Museum. Set up within 4 monumental synagogues, we both learned a lot - we figured we know more about Islam than Judaism due to our time in Islamic countries - so it was about time to learn something new. From the museum it was a hop and a skip across the road to the enormous Portuguese Synagogue. This phenomenal building was built in 1675 to support the influx from Spain and Portugal during the Spanish inquisition. Why the Portuguese Synagogue and not the Spanish? Because there was a pesky war going on with Spain at the time... this was much more subtle. Separately, how come it didn't get bombed to bits or dismantled by the Nazis? Because it was built by a non-Jew (lucky that). James donned a little hat and we went for a look in the synagogue itself - during winter the services are held in a smaller, heated room as the main building has no heating or electricity. 1000s of candles are lit and reflect off the plate glass - it must look absolutely magical during services. We were dragging the chain a bit so decided to start our 24 hour canal bus hop-on/hop-off tickets. Very pleasant puttering about the canals but must remember never to use hop-on/hop-off services - frustration on a grand scale. Ended up at the Maritime Museum in the afternoon and got to explore a Dutch sailing ship. The Amsterdam is a replica of a Dutch East Indiaman that sank on her maiden voyage in 1749. Very windy day... managed to feel seasick on a ship docked in a harbour... sigh... certainly didn't think of taking a seasick pill before a museum. There was a stunning collection of ships' figureheads, silver and glass with the museum itself and a large collection of maritime art. Against our better judgement we jumped back on the canal bus to get home. Bought a bargain bunch of tulips for only €5 at the floating market. Curled up in the sun for a sleep.
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