Amsterdam Trip, Part 2: Museum Vrolik

On the first morning, I soon went to MacBike to get myself some wheels. The sunshine of the previous day had been replaced by gray skies and I knew the forecast for all the following days hadn't been very hopeful, so I would set out to find back my favorite museum right away where I had planned to go by all means. It's located somewhat outside Amsterdam, inside a hospital, the Amsterdam Medical Center (AMC), so it's quite a little way to ride. It's not indicated on my map - I should have looked it up again on Google Maps at home and then marked it on mine - and so I even got a bit lost although I had already been there last year. It was noon when I finally arrived at the AMC, but I had already seen some strange creatures on the way there.

At Museum Vrolik it's not allowed to take photos, but it would have been little use anyway with a regular cam like mine - too low light without flash, and with it the flash would only have reflected off the glass cabinets. But, as I had already long planned, I bought the book about the collection this time!

So here are a few more pages from it, showing some of the specimens I was able to admire in person:

In my opinion this is the best museum in the world! Not only because I'm tremendously fascinated with teratology (the study of deformities) but also because of the historical aspect. Modern plastination of body parts is pretty boring compared to this because it makes them look artificial, and also as far as I know those are only "normal" bodies and body parts, whereas Museum Vrolik has some very unique and absolutely fascinating specimens, labeled in beautiful old handwriting and all.

When I left the museum, after some 3 hours or so, it had started raining.
The entire next day, Tuesday, would be pretty awful, raining on and off and above all bitterly, freezing cold. So I spent most of the day at the public library. I was unable to find a single book about lucid dreaming, and generally less in English language than I had expected - which wouldn't have been much of a problem though since I can also read some Nederlands. But somehow I couldn't find what I was looking for; all the more esoteric stuff was of the fluffy and white-light variety.
At least I found four large, illustrated books about haaien (sharks) that were well worth my time.
But I felt cranky because I hadn't been able to work out much due to the foul weather, only a few sets of push-ups and stuff at the dorm.

On my final day in Amsterdam I would still set out to find the former Vrolik house, where Gerard Vrolik had lived - the man who started this remarkable collection at his home back in the 19th century; its address is given in the book and it's downtown, just next to the famous Magere Brug (Skinny Bridge), just a regular house in Amsterdam now to anyone who doesn't know about its historical significance.