This one sort of stretches the definition of book a little due to length, but it’s a fun one… I’m feeling headachey and grumpy and thought a book of pure cheer would be good for today.
In November we had the great joy and privilege of visiting some good friends in Amsterdam. The trip was very special—not only were we able to explore this beautiful city with our pals but after a few extremely stressful, sad years of my dad being sick and passing this big holiday was an incredible boost. I’m grateful too that we got to go before COVID.
On the trip we visited Budapest and Amsterdam. Though Budapest we approached in a different way better suited to the emotional resonance of the city, Amsterdam we approached in the usual way we do—highly scheduled! We love museums and want to cram as many in as possible in the time we have. We usually get worn out after a few days of this type of behaviour, so on one of the last days we went to the coziest possible museum in this city of endless museums—Katten Kabinet. It’s a museum of cats! No, not of upsetting taxidermy, but cat paintings and posters and sculptures (including a lot of like really legit art—pretty impressive!) and there are even a few adorable cats who live in the museum who come out to meet you if they feel like it, and run away back to their private floor if they don’t. One napped in the gift shop. It was awesome.
Aside from this being just a really fun and relaxing place it was nice after a week to meet some animal friends, as we were missing our little bruiser, Betty.
Anyway, like I said this is more of a glorified pamphlet than a book, with just a handful of pages of artists with cats, and/or with a quote from them about cats. Pure tourist souvenir fodder, and like yes cat museum—take my money!
So anyway—this one’s a memento of a lovely place on a lovely day on a lovely trip. Such things are especially nice to cherish in times like this.