Madurodam

Madurodam.    Revamped.    Looking very spruce, with a new entrance, newly painted exhibits, and some new buildings, and with lots of interactive displays, which children love of course.    

Parents of a Dutch soldier, who was their only child and who died in a concentration camp during World War II, donated money to build Madurodam in memory of their son, and to give joy to the children of Holland.    It is a non profit making organisation.   Money is put aside to pay staff and for the upkeep and development of the site.    The remaining surplus is given to children's charities. 

So what is Madurodam?  It is full of miniature buildings, trains, farms, ships, aeroplanes, and much more.     All depicting life in Holland.   A children's paradise, especially now they can play with exhibits.

And the sun shone, all afternoon.    Bliss.

But first we needed to eat lunch, very healthy of course.    Hot dogs, krokets and chips, all washed down with fizzy drinks.    Plus coffee for Walter and me.  

A view from the restaurant, towards the front entrance.   The hot dog and ice cream stand on the right of the photograph is doing a great trade.

I think this is meant to be a market garden.

Mia and Abi working the locks.

And making sure that they place the bricks on the boat correctly, otherwise the boat will tip over.

Apartment blocks, well planned, which in real life the Dutch are somewhere in Holland.    Sorry, these are not apartment blocks, but are in fact the buildings of a very large bank.   Must have a lot of money!

This motorway needs more cars and trucks on it, in order to be a correct image of modern highways.

The airport tower.

The outdoor concert in the park.    Even the little people in front of stage danced in time to the music.   If you put some money in the slot.

Rest time.   While Mia and Abi played in the playground, we sat and soaked up the sunshine.

The clogs were there, waiting for a photograph.    In this case with Mia and Abi.

The tower in Utrecht.

The town hall in Gouda.

Amsterdam.

Amsterdam again.

The Peace Palace.   When the palace was built, countries donated parts of the building.

And at the end we weighed ourselves.   Abi weighed half a cheese round, Mia weighed a cheese round, I weighed 5 1/2 cheese rounds, and Walter weighed 7 1/2 cheese rounds.    I think being compared to cheese rounds is much better than knowing what you weigh in kilos.

And then we went and had a very quick look at Scheveningen, the coastal town, which looked a bit like some of the run down English seaside towns.   But Scheveningen has been rejuvenated and looks very prosperous and alive.

I have always liked Scheveningen, even when it was dowdy, plus windy and very cold.    Probably it was due to the fact that I could say the name, 'Scheveningen'.