Do you dream of strolling through a world of quiet canals lined with beautiful wooden houses and watching the birds and flowers along the waters? Then it's time to discover Giethoorn, the Venice of the Netherlands.

Located in the heart of the Netherlands, Giethoorn is a picturesque little village of peaceful canals, wooden bridges and traditional wooden houses. Here, cars are not allowed and the inhabitants travel by boat, which gives this place a peaceful and intimate atmosphere.

The canals of Giethoorn are lined with beautiful flower gardens and green trees, creating a peaceful and natural environment. Visitors can rent boats to explore the village and admire the beautiful wooden houses that line the waters.

The downtown area of Giethoorn is a real gem, with its narrow cobblestone streets, charming stores and delicious restaurants. Art lovers will also be delighted, as the village is home to many museums and art galleries.

Finally, for those looking to fully relax, Giethoorn is also the perfect place for activities such as fishing, cycling and walking. You can also relax on a café terrace or on a boat while admiring the view of the village and the surrounding gardens.

So how about escaping to this magical and peaceful world in Giethoorn?

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Credit :- @bestcitiesofeurope

Kunsthal KAdE (Art Gallery KAdE)

‘’exhibitions on contemporary & modern art, architecture, design, and contemporary visual culture.’’

Location: Amersfoort, Utrecht, The Netherlands Price: 13,- / students 6,- Duration: 0,5 - 1 hour Transport: Walking distance from the station of Amersfoort central. Language: Dutch, but it's more looking than reading Activities: Drawing, making clay figures Date of visit: Thursday 23 February 2023 Expo at that time: Ministry of Fear/Foam by Folkert de Jong website

Since the whole museum has a switching exposition and not a fixed collection, I can not really judge over the museum itself, more about the exposition. The museum is placed at ‘’het Eemsplein’’ locally known for having homeless men harassing you, and they did. The building itself is very modern looking, the whole square it's placed on looks modern, all stone and metal. Just not really my thing.

I was not prepared

I was in the city and had some free time, so I popped in, not knowing what the museum was about. After I was greeted by the friendly staff and put my backpack in a locker and walked thou the big doors, where I saw a naked mannequin (Dick out and all) standing at the end of the hallway, staring at me, holding two heads in his hands. Okay cool anyway, let's walk further. Into a big room with multiple people hanging from the roof. Where the fuck am I??’. I started walking through the exposition and came into a black room with tv’s that played short clips of brain scans, hostages being kicked on the ground, and American soldiers posing with bombs. All the while the sound of a voice was playing, echoing saying things like, you know you're dreaming… right?? And creepy slowed-down music. It made me feel fear, it made me feel uncomfortable. I didn't know what was going on or how I got into this situation. I felt like I was in an Indie horror game like my boyfriend sometimes shows me. I didn't like it.

But the further I walked, the more interesting it got, weird ‘’edgy’’ drawing like that you would see in a high school notebook. I started thinking to myself, what in the ‘’nice guy’’ incel collection is this?? Statues of mutilated dead bodies, and all kinds of colours and textures. As the artist describes, he makes these things from what he has ‘’lying around’’. Looking a bit closer at these characters, I noticed these hands were too detailed to be a mannequin, the wrinkles, and pores and all. It started to scare me, how do I know this guy doesn't just have real humans ‘’lying around’’ based on what I saw earlier I would have believed it.

When you see his work, you already start making a picture in your mind of what this deranged, mentally ill human could look like. But then I saw the interview, a friendly-looking man, a friendly teacher or neighbour vibe to him. Wearing his sweater with soft pink, blue, and yellows. I had judged too quickly, I had made a stereotype and judged the book by its cover. 

Really inspiring

I hated it at first because ‘’these drawings are so stupid, I could make them!’’ ‘’This is not art! He just wants to be edgy’’. I have not made art for myself in a long time, because these are the comments I would get. But this man just does what he wants, he makes great art, and you can see the great skill in his work. He's just having fun, making things up as you go. Doing what he wants or just for the shock value.

In the interview, he talks about how he grew up around bunkers, and his parents always talked about war stories. How he would go to the video store and always rented American horror movies. How he grew up being proud of his country, but the more he learned, the more disappointed he got. How he feels like his mind is an isolation cell he desperately wants to escape. To see what more there is. it suddenly all made sense. And walking thou it a second time with a new view inspired me.

The KAdEStudio

In the studio you can make your own art. The activities you can do here are connected to the art exposition, so it also changes. This time, you could draw your own character/mannequin with crayons and markers. Next to that, you could make clay faces, or I guess clay anything. After you finished with it, there was a display where you can put it. And write your name and age. It was fun to see the different artworks from the ‘’normal people’’ and to see all different ages on this display, from 4 to 80! Sadly, they only had 2 tables to make the clay on, and there were already people sitting there. So I didn't make them. 

TLDR +I would recommend it for Artists and Art students since it's usually not the ‘’mainstream’’ art. + Fun art activities, matching the theme + changing expos making it re-visitable.

- wouldn't recommend it for kids, maybe with a more kid-friendly expo.  - small, Even tho I take my sweet time looking at the art, watching the whole interview, playing at the studio and even looking at the fun things in the gift shop. I was standing outside again in an hour.

Would I pay the price: No, it was too short/small in my opinion Would I revisit it: yes, since the expositions keep changing every so months.

Who do I recommend it to: Artists, Modern Art fans, Art Students of any field. Interactive:         2 Educational: 2 Storytelling: 4 Price: 2 Memorable: 5 Total score: 3