Today we woke up bright and early and headed to the Zuiderzeemuseum, all the way up north! The bus ride was about an hour and a half, and I believe all 24 of us were asleep the whole time. Upon arriving, I was informed we were taking a short boat ride to the main outdoor part of the museum. I was not dressed for this at all, so I was curled up in the back hoping to warm up, but nothing really helped, and there were a bunch of mosquitos. But, the first stop of the outdoor museum made up for it.

We went paddling! Not fully, but it was a small enclosed outdoor area with a bunch tiny boats, and I had an absolute blast! We paddled to all the stations, and even had tiny water fights. I was still freezing, but the small boat wars and stealing each others boats when we were not looking was the highlight of the day. Do not be fooled by Kam’s post, there was no race, and if anyone won the race, it was me.

After about an hour of play time, we started to walk around in hopes of learning something. We found out that Zuiderzeemuseum is a village meant for fishing! There were so many houses, bridges, workshops, and an indoor museum for everyone to explore. We learned about their dams and water systems, and how they are in place to prevent massive floods. I also found it interesting how a majority of the buildings were labeled with Dutch, and how different it was from Amsterdam. This is also similar to Rotterdam. Although we have only been here for about a day, the locals seem to speak in Dutch a lot more and will not communicate with us as easily.

After walking around and getting an apple tart, we met up with the rest of the group for more lunch. I had a delicious sandwich and fries 🙂

I really enjoyed today, especially because we had so much time to walk around and explore a historical town in The Netherlands. The long drive was definetely worth it. I wish we had more museums like this in the US, but one that comes close is the Science Center in Pittsburgh because of all their interactive activities, some of which involve water.

Tonight, we are going to head to the Markthal which is a massive food court. I cannot wait to try, and I will see you tomorrow!