2019 - Day 2: Utrecht

The summation of today is we are hot and exhausted but the kids are happy.

So today was the first proper day of the holiday and we had originally planned a nice quiet trip to the Spoorwegmuseum (Railway Museum) however Dagje uit met Thomas (Day out with Thomas) changed all that! Held once a year it just happened to fall on the one weekend we were here and with two Thomas loving kids this was both a blessing and a curse.

We got there early and it was already getting busy so took our chance to look round the trains and see Thomas up close before the full on crowds got there.

Looking round the static exhibitions (with Cub).

Thomas arriving into the station.

Paloma and Matt in a rare crowd free shot with Thomas.

Matt's assessment of the museum was that it was not a touch on the National Railway Museum in York for content but had much more attractions and was geared as a family day out (even if all the Thomas paraphernalia hadn't been there).  The kids had a great time and especially enjoyed riding solo on the kids only Jumbo-express.  

All aboard the Jumbo-express.

We didn't get to see all the attractions as queues got very long very quickly but we did watch the sing along in Dutch with Paloma in particular loving bobbing along to "Thomas en z'n team"!  It was definitely worth getting there for when it opened as we ended up being there for 4.5 hours and could certainly been there longer had we not got Miffy to go to next.

The Nijntje Museum (Miffy Museum) is based around the Miffy books, which as a family we don't have any experience with, but the description as a collection of miniature role play worlds sounded like something the kids would enjoy... and they really did.  

Miffy Museum and Forrest has hidden Cub somewhere for the photo.

We had to drag them out of each room into the next one as even with an hour and a half to spend there, time just kept running away.  The favourite had to be the transport room with Forrest bossing all the poor Dutch kids around as on each lap of the room on the trike the crossing gates had to close to let the train past.  It's great to see how language is not a barrier when kids are having fun.

Getting creative in the arts and craft room.

The time was now 5pm and we were all pretty shattered.  Paloma fell asleep on Matt's shoulders as we walked to find some food and Forrest couldn't decide if he wanted to stop and rest or if that would delay getting to eat!  As we walked back towards town we couldn't help but notice some thumping tunes banging out and lots of rainbows all over the place and it dawned on us it was the Utrecht Canal Pride day.  It would have been great if we had managed to see some of the parade boats but we would never have fitted it into our schedule even if we had known it was happening.  Thankfully the cafe (Graaf Floris) we were heading to wasn't too crowded and we managed to have a lovely meal including trying an Appelbollen which was amazing.

So today it was too hot, tempers frayed, there were tears and tantrums and potty accidents but as we were walking back to the hotel Forrest said it was "the best day in his life ever" and it made it all seem worth it (I think!).

Blogged by Amber.