(Neo-)Classical Amsterdam

(Neo-)Classical Amsterdam - Kloveniersburgwal 29 - Trippenhuis, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

It is Pentecost today and, despite Holland no longer actually being a Christian country, it is still a public holiday which means that although it is Monday, Fred is at home. It is project week at school this week, the crowning moment being a guided walk around Amsterdam for thirty schoolchildren under Fred and his colleague, Tineke's supervision. The theme is Classical Amsterdam.

We spent Friday cycling around Amsterdam checking out various buildings in the Classical tradition and yesterday walking around the route which Fred had set out for the walking tour. A good thing we did as we managed to reduce the amount of walking quite dramatically by taking a slightly more logical approach than Fred had done originally!

The 30 children will be divided into ten groups of three and each group has three objects (buildings or statues) to investigate prior to the tour and to present and explain the object during the tour. At the end of the tour, they will be asked to write a report about thir chosen object, which Fred and his colleagues will look at and mark, the points going towards their end of year grade. It is not a picnic!

This photo is of one of the only two palaces in Amsterdam, the Trippenhuis, built for some arms dealers in the 1660's, arms dealing being one of those trades which seems to earn its purveyors a lot of money, through all ages. The chimneys are even shaped as canons.