All good things must end, field trips and degree programs alike.
We learned a lot that first Field Trip, as did the marvelous students who joined us on it.
Feedback from them: fourteen days is a long time -- for travelling, for staying in a hostel, for examining museums, for spending money -- ten days would be enough.
We spent our last day seeing people off, before heading back to Schiphol for our return flight. Bye AMS, hello YYZ!
The Katten Kabinet is an art gallery dedicated to all works involving cats, which included multiple works in vivo.
Not a place for the ailurophobe or the allergic, it was nonetheless a pleasant space to while away an hour or two and skritch the ears of the many docents.
Hortus Botanicus, the Amsterdam botanical garden, was a pleasant morning visit, a combination of cool spring outdoors and sticky tropical indoors.
Again, not a typical "museum," but it was comprised of authentic artefacts intentionally displayed in a way that fostered learning.
It had a nice little outdoor cafe too, whose coffee fostered reflection and discussion.
The 2010 World Press Photo Contest award winners were displayed at the Oudekerk in the centre of town. The ancient church made an excellent open gallery where there was always something to look at.
The first Field Trip was so long that we were there for Mother's Day. A large vase of tulips was at the entrance of the Oude Kerk to provide every visiting mother a flower on the day.
https://www.worldpressphoto.org/collection/photocontest/2010
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oude_Kerk,_Amsterdam
The canals were a constant companion on our walks between museums. Most were quite active with utility and pleasure boats, while others held disused watercraft and nesting waterfowl.
Where the water was shallow enough, you could also see discarded (no doubt stolen) bicycles.
Some museums were more like shops with attached wunderkammers. The Coffee and Tea Museum was one such: an active shop downstairs, and a somewhat jumbled collection of antiquated equipment upstairs.
Still good fodder for discussion:
What story could you tell with these materials?
Why so many similar items?
How might we tease out differences in the technology?
The day after our big excursion, we met in the hostel to discuss what we'd seen so far, and what we hoped to yet see.
While we met, workers outside were finishing landscaping the grounds surrounding the building.
After dinner, the hostel's cafeteria (breakfast, lunch, dinner should you choose) became an impromptu coffee bar, where you could linger and makes plans for the next day.
One of the excursions that were organized (we did a few while we were learning how to Field Trip), was to the Nederlands Openluchtmuseum.
The Dutch Open Air Museum joins together snapshots of Dutch life, both ancient and modern, connecting it together with an impressive line of vintage trams.
Some of the group opted to visit the nearby Kröller-Müller Museum. Two for One!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands_Open_Air_Museum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kröller-Mülller_Museum
May 5, in contrast, is Liberation Day, to mark the end of the 1940-45 German occupation.
We spent the day on Museumplein checking out the site for an evening concert, and paid a visit to the Sexmuseum, a unique experience for students and staff alike.
More than mere titillation, the museum offers glimpses into the less-than-pleasant past through to the more liberated present.
Darcy Casselman
Paul McKone