First Museum

I invested in a Museum Card, which costs around 50 euros and gets you into hundreds of museums around the country for free for a year, before my trip to the castle last month. I bought it with the intention of skipping of for a few hours at a museum when I have a few free hours on a weekend.

I used it for the first time on Sunday at the Tropenmuseum, which exhibits collectors items, art, photographs, and videos of developing world locations (with a special emphasis on places that the Dutch have invaded/conquered/enslaved in the past, like Surinam and Indonesia). It also had an interesting theme dedicated to the color red:

After the museum, I took trip to the center to revisit a beer store I’d stopped in last month. It has sections for U.S.A., Dutch, German, Belgian, Scandinavian, and Eastern European beers. It’s nice to know that, if I’m really dying for an American IPA, I can get one (albeit for three or four euros for a 12 ounce bottle).

I ended up buying four beers – three Belgians and a German – and a four pack of Dutch microbrews that came with two glasses. I’ll probably shop here regularly. The beer selection – along with the friendly cat – are enticing.

I also checked out the Dappermarket, which is similar to the Albert Cuypmarket. Of the street markets, it’s supposed to be the most “ethnic.” I didn’t see much of a different between it and the other one; most of the goods were cheapies from Southeast Asia. But they did have a similar selection of cheeses, fish, and nuts as the other market.