Now here we were in for a pleasant surprise. When we entered our room (514) we were amazed to discover a telescope (!) and various globes and charts of the heavens! It turns out that this is a special "museum" room, that every hotel in Utrecht has one, in cooperation with the museum there, and we just happened to have lucked out. That evening, we had fun checking out the craters on the moon. It was actually dH's first time looking through a telescope and seeing the moon so clearly!
Friday evening, 6pm, and everything was closing down. Stores, museums, everything. So we walked along the canals, etc. Nothing special. I was looking for a Jazz club or something, but the only ones we found had a really YOUNG crowd....we felt too old and didn't go in.
The next morning we headed to the Nationalmuseum vom Glockenspiel Zur Drehorgel (The National Museum from Musical Clocks to Street Organs). It was truly amazing. We had two great tourguides - one for the special "Royal Musicboxes" exhibition, and one for the regular collection. Check out the "collections" section on the site, and make sure you are set for "broadband" if you have it!
My special favorites are the Hupfield violin player, which was presented at the world fair (don't know which year and used 3 violins to play the melody...each violin placed as to have a different string bowed. Also, the replica of the automaton with cannon. The original is pictured in the ( brochure ) and was displayed on the dining table during banquets, whereupon, as some preset time, the ship would start its presentation, eventually moving along the table and shooting off its cannon. I can't imagine how the guest at the end of that cannon reacted!
We headed back to the hotel, by way of the market, with nothing purchased, collected our baggage and headed back to Amsterdam for our last night. We got there around 3 pm, leaving me time for my shopping spree mentioned previously, and then our "entertainment evening" - also mentioned already.
Although I was sorry it was ending, with the situation in Israel being what it was, our minds were really not in Holland anymore, and we were anxious to go home. And so, the next morning, bright and early, we gathered our lugguge, had our (3-star) breakfast, and off we went to the airport.
The end.
