Katten Kabinet Cat Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2012

Amsterdam is full of great museums, but we didn't visit many of them. Oh, we will eventually, but during this trip, we spent most of our time outside. I loved walking around the city and taking in the beautiful views of the canals and old buildings. I'm sure that the museums are wonderful and some of the best in the world, but time time around, it was Amsterdam itself that was our "museum." We did stop by one actual museum, though: Katten Kabinet. I'm not ashamed to admit that Jon and I are both crazy cat people. We have a cat named Maya and we're always on the lookout for feline friends on our journeys. We got to know a friendly neighborhood cat called Ebby in Wellington, New Zealand and befriended dozens of kitties in Greece. We said hello to a market cat named Marianna in Mexico City. We stopped to "chat" with a meowie baby by a church in Iceland. That said, we were, of course, going to see a whole museum dedicated to works of art featuring cats! Katten Kabinet's location is an interesting as its exhibits. It's in an old house on the edge of the canal and is still filled with what looks like original furnishings. So amidst the cat statues and cat drawings and cat sculptures, you have many Victorian antiques and ornate light fixtures. It feels a bit like Grandma's House -- only the knickknacks all have to do with cats. Here are some photos:

Upon entering, we were greeted by the bemused looking young man who worked the ticket booth. I guess he was a little tired of seeing crazy cat people, and really, who else would go to this place? We then ventured to the exhibit upstairs and spent the next hour admiring cat paintings, statues, cartoons... any cat thing you can think of. They even had a cat mummy, a cat made out of cat fur (kinda gross) and a cat made out of fabric printed with cats. It was amazing! At the end of our time there, we went to the small gift shop and there was a live cat! The ticket guy informed me that her name is Lily and I proceeded to make friends with her. Apparently there are at least two other kitties living there, but we only got to see one, unfortunately. Still, we had a wonderful time at Katten Kabinet and I encourage you to check it out, even if you're not that into cats. The art really is beautiful and the house is really cool. Next time we're in Amsterdam, I'd like to check out many more museusm -- but we'll definitely make another trip to Katten Kabinet.

HubPages Article: 10 Great Restaurants In Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2012

This April, Jon and I traveled to Lagos, Nigeria, but stopped in Amsterdam for a few days on the way there and back. My serious recommendation? If you have a long flight and the layover is in an interesting place, spend at least a night there and break up the trip. Instead of doing 15 hour flights with breaks in the airport, we took four shorter flights with short stays in Amsterdam -- and it was so worth it. When we traveled to Australia (20 hours) and from Greece to JFK (12 hours after a 5 hour boat ride), I wanted to kill everyone who was in my way because I was so grubby and tired. But this time, I left the plane feeling refreshed and ready to go! Anyway, I loved Amsterdam. Adored it. I wanted to marry this city and have its babies. Friends have asked why I loved it so much and it's a little difficult to put into words. It's beautiful, sure, but we've visited many beautiful places. I think I just liked the laid back, tolerant feel and the sense that I was at... home. Sometimes a place will hit you like that and Amsterdam did that for me. I'll go into more Amsterdam details later on in this blog, but one of the things I enjoyed was the food. Dutch food gets a bad rap, but I like hearty comfort-type food. I also love Indonesian, of which there is a lot there. I felt almost overwhelmed by the restaurant choices in the city, but this article on HubPages highlights 10 really good ones. So get thee to Amsterdam -- and bring a healthy appetite!

To read about more of my adventures, check out my jewelry blog at Naomi's Designs.