Mouse Mansion Museum - Amsterdam

The Netherlands was built by great water engineering feats, building dikes which control the flow of rivers, using the sand extracted to keep the land safe from flooding.  The symbolic wooden clogs as an  iconic souvenir symbolise how the Dutch literally reclaimed lands from the wet marshy lands they found themselves on in the middle ages. Known as the Venice of the north,  there are many residential Boat houses on canals and almost every village or city you visit will always have water.

 

There are 101 things to do in Amsterdam but an off the beaten track morning or afternoon is well spent in the Jordaan visiting the adorable Mouse Mansion, which is a tiny Basel toy musem except it is a family run bookstore with books about two little mice. The address of Mouse Mansion is Tuindwarsstraat, Amsterdam in the Jordaan area.  The walls are decorated with doll house size or smaller mice rooms, with each area being approximately 30x40 cm. One can stand for ages admiring all the ingenuity of miniature detail.

 

 

If all that inspires you, creating a doll's houses and furniture is a lovely winter hobby.  Collect tiny things from 2nd hand stores haberdashery sections.  You can have a simple wall frame house or elaborate palace of wood. Use matchboxes, coasters and cake doileys or anything that serves the purpose.  You will need some good glue, tweezers for the finicky things and patience but the end result is quite satisfying! Especially, in the cold dark days of winter when it is not much fun to be outside.