No Tulips - Many Cheeses - by Ingvar Svenson
A visit to museum Speelklok in Utrecht, Holland - 1st March 2017
We have always liked the idea of visiting this museum of mechanical music in Holland so when Juliet and Chris suggested a trip there we arranged to go together. However unfortunately at the last minute they were unable to go so at the end of February Ingvar and Anna went alone.
We drove to Ebbsfleet where we jumped on to the Eurostar (no need to arrive 3 hours early, just half an hour) for the just under 2 hour trip to Brussels. There after a short wait there we boarded a Thalys train for a 1 hour 50 minute trip to Amsterdam. Interestingly, unlike on Eurostar, there was wi-fi on this more modern and comfortable train.
The hotel we stayed in was right opposite the main station in Amsterdam, and appropriately named the 'A-Train Hotel’. It had a happy and friendly family type atmosphere and to Ingvar’s delight the reception and dining area was completely covered in railway photographs (many from the steam era in the U.K.) and memorabilia!
In fact Ingvar had naturally previously discovered that not only was Utrecht the home to the Museum Speelklok but it also housed the Dutch National Railway Museum (perhaps he is more interested in these rather bigger, dirty and smelly monsters - though the ones in the museum were of course spotless?).
So as nothing seems to open before 10 a.m. in Holland, on Wednesday March 1st we jumped onto a local train for the half hour journey to Utrecht and arrived at the railway museum at 10 a.m.
After a fascinating one and a half hours there we walked the 25 minutes to the Museum Speeldklok
Interestingly the upstairs area closes at 1:30 (which we did not know) and it is this area which contains well over a third of the collection of musical boxes and pianolas, as well as a few fascinating other instruments such as Mikado clock combination and a cylinder musical box that played for over two hours on one wind.
We drove to Ebbsfleet where we jumped on to the Eurostar (no need to arrive 3 hours early, just half an hour) for the just under 2 hour trip to Brussels. There after a short wait there we boarded a Thalys train for a 1 hour 50 minute trip to Amsterdam. Interestingly, unlike on Eurostar, there was wi-fi on this more modern and comfortable train.
The hotel we stayed in was right opposite the main station in Amsterdam, and appropriately named the 'A-Train Hotel’. It had a happy and friendly family type atmosphere and to Ingvar’s delight the reception and dining area was completely covered in railway photographs (many from the steam era in the U.K.) and memorabilia!
In fact Ingvar had naturally previously discovered that not only was Utrecht the home to the Museum Speelklok but it also housed the Dutch National Railway Museum (perhaps he is more interested in these rather bigger, dirty and smelly monsters - though the ones in the museum were of course spotless?).
So as nothing seems to open before 10 a.m. in Holland, on Wednesday March 1st we jumped onto a local train for the half hour journey to Utrecht and arrived at the railway museum at 10 a.m.
After a fascinating one and a half hours there we walked the 25 minutes to the Museum Speeldklok
Interestingly the upstairs area closes at 1:30 (which we did not know) and it is this area which contains well over a third of the collection of musical boxes and pianolas, as well as a few fascinating other instruments such as Mikado clock combination and a cylinder musical box that played for over two hours on one wind.
Luckily we just had enough time for viewing the upstairs, but were a bit disappointed that it was not possible to hear them, or even a recording of any of them. The only exhibit which could be heard on this floor was a turret clock dated c1550-1600 with a carillon which had been added at a later date.
Seen and not heard
On the first Wednesday of each month the museum offers a tour of their workshops so it is well worth ensuring your visit coincides with this. It is advisable to book this one hour tour in advance.
So at 2 00 pm we took the 5 minute walk to the workshops. We entered the main part of the old church which as you can imagine was filled with a lot of wood, organ parts and ‘stuff’ as well as other musical instruments in various states of repair. There were two main repairing areas, the one on the left for the wood repairs and the one on the right for horology and repairs to metal work. The guide unfortunately only spoke Dutch but a very helpful young girl, who was about to start a internship in the horology department for a year, cleverly translated most of what was being said into English for us. They undertake repairs almost exclusively for mechanical instruments from the museum as there are more than enough there to keep them busy. Apparently they do make an exception if they are presented with an instrument which is rare or interesting or if by repairing it they can learn from it.
We were directed towards one such eighteenth century challenge. This took the form of a very beautiful long case clock, veneered with tortoiseshell and inlaid with intricate brass work. I believe this is called boulle. This clock played a cylinder musical box and the owner had a box that came with it that had the spaces for five more cylinders which the museum had been commissioned to make - and it had already taken them over three years! Each cylinder was going to have a different theme, like Christmas tunes, nineteenth century, twentieth century, etc. and they played one for us which they had just made which did seem incongruous hearing well known modern tunes played in an antique clock!
We were shown how the proposed tunes were drawn on paper and were then adjusted to end up being the right length to fit exactly on to one revolution of the cylinder. They were experimenting with the best way to drill the holes for the pins and had found that the best way was to use an old 1930's dentist drill! The holes had to be 0.5 mm. and as the drill bits that size kept on breaking they found it better to use a 0.5 mm. burr. It surprised us that the pins they were using were made of brass rather than steel. These were dressmakers pins that they had sourced which were 0.6 mm. which were obviously a good fit when they were tapped into the cylinder. They explained to us that nobody really knew how they made the original cylinders so they were experimenting as they went along and keeping notes of their methods in order to help restorers in the future.
We were directed towards one such eighteenth century challenge. This took the form of a very beautiful long case clock, veneered with tortoiseshell and inlaid with intricate brass work. I believe this is called boulle. This clock played a cylinder musical box and the owner had a box that came with it that had the spaces for five more cylinders which the museum had been commissioned to make - and it had already taken them over three years! Each cylinder was going to have a different theme, like Christmas tunes, nineteenth century, twentieth century, etc. and they played one for us which they had just made which did seem incongruous hearing well known modern tunes played in an antique clock!
We were shown how the proposed tunes were drawn on paper and were then adjusted to end up being the right length to fit exactly on to one revolution of the cylinder. They were experimenting with the best way to drill the holes for the pins and had found that the best way was to use an old 1930's dentist drill! The holes had to be 0.5 mm. and as the drill bits that size kept on breaking they found it better to use a 0.5 mm. burr. It surprised us that the pins they were using were made of brass rather than steel. These were dressmakers pins that they had sourced which were 0.6 mm. which were obviously a good fit when they were tapped into the cylinder. They explained to us that nobody really knew how they made the original cylinders so they were experimenting as they went along and keeping notes of their methods in order to help restorers in the future.
That got us just back in time for the normal official tour of the downstairs exhibits of the museum itself at 3 p.m. which lasted 50 minutes. Fortunately on this occasion we were able to hear many of the instruments in action ranging from the beautiful organ clock (picture below) to the rabbit in a cabbage made in France between 1911 and 1915, although we were unfortunately unable to understand the commentary which was almost entirely in Dutch. The tour ended with a rendition from one of the large fairground organs which I expect could be heard everywhere in the museum! After this we perambulated around the whole downstairs area at our leisure and were able to hear a recording of a selection of the instruments using a card and listening on earphones.
Overall we spent 4 1/2 hours visiting there.
As we did not intend to visit the Rijksmuseum (a whole day in itself) we thought after travelling all that distance two days in Amsterdam itself was mandatory.
Fortunately as everything of interest to tourists was no more than 25 minutes walk from our hotel, we thought a boat trip would not only give us our bearings but with their multilingual guide a good way of obtaining a verbal introduction. Most advertised tours are 1 hour, but with a bit of digging we discovered one which was one and a half hours which enabled us not only to 'do' more canals but also go out into the main harbour area.
A 20 minute walk from out hotel brought us to the Museum of Amsterdam. Though slightly disappointing when compared to the Museum of London in the Barbican, it was still worth a visit.
When making our plans, in addition to the obligatory pilgrimage to the Anne Franks house, for which advance booking on-line is most strongly advised (unless you want to join a 3 hour queue with no guarantee of entry), we had also decided to visit the Van Loon museum.
We were most impressed. As the co-founder of the Dutch East India company it was no normal house inside although the outside looked just like any of the other successful Dutch merchant's houses. As the taxes were based on the width of the canal frontage they are usually all the same narrow width, but as well as being high the lack of width is made up for by the depth of the building and garden behind. Though the descendants still live on the top floors of the building the lovely private collection of furniture and paintings on the first floor, ground floor, basement, garden and stable block beyond were all open to the public to enjoy.
Another 20 minutes walk from our hotel found us at what was billed as the largest antiques centre in Holland, the 'Amsterdam Antiques Market'. Though not open on Tuesdays (as we found on our first attempt) it is well worth a visit - after 100 stalls we gave up counting! Nevertheless we did not come away with anything, apart from rather exhausted legs!
One note of caution if you have not been to Amsterdam for a long time: in England we have to watch out for cars when crossing the road. In Amsterdam you first have to negotiate the cycle lanes before you get to the cars, then suddenly in the middle of all this you then also have to negotiate the tram lines - most disconcerting!
Additionally when the pedestrian crossing goes green, oh no, though the cars and trams wait for you not so the cycles - you still have to check before crossing the cycle lanes. And then to cap it all not only do some cycles join you when going across the pedestrian crossing, but you may get the odd moped crossing with you!
When we got home we were informed by our cyclist daughter that cycles have priority in Holland !
Finally as Holland is indeed rather flat, if you go February/March time do wrap up well; not only is it windy but the wind is still a mighty chilly one.
As we did not intend to visit the Rijksmuseum (a whole day in itself) we thought after travelling all that distance two days in Amsterdam itself was mandatory.
Fortunately as everything of interest to tourists was no more than 25 minutes walk from our hotel, we thought a boat trip would not only give us our bearings but with their multilingual guide a good way of obtaining a verbal introduction. Most advertised tours are 1 hour, but with a bit of digging we discovered one which was one and a half hours which enabled us not only to 'do' more canals but also go out into the main harbour area.
A 20 minute walk from out hotel brought us to the Museum of Amsterdam. Though slightly disappointing when compared to the Museum of London in the Barbican, it was still worth a visit.
When making our plans, in addition to the obligatory pilgrimage to the Anne Franks house, for which advance booking on-line is most strongly advised (unless you want to join a 3 hour queue with no guarantee of entry), we had also decided to visit the Van Loon museum.
We were most impressed. As the co-founder of the Dutch East India company it was no normal house inside although the outside looked just like any of the other successful Dutch merchant's houses. As the taxes were based on the width of the canal frontage they are usually all the same narrow width, but as well as being high the lack of width is made up for by the depth of the building and garden behind. Though the descendants still live on the top floors of the building the lovely private collection of furniture and paintings on the first floor, ground floor, basement, garden and stable block beyond were all open to the public to enjoy.
Another 20 minutes walk from our hotel found us at what was billed as the largest antiques centre in Holland, the 'Amsterdam Antiques Market'. Though not open on Tuesdays (as we found on our first attempt) it is well worth a visit - after 100 stalls we gave up counting! Nevertheless we did not come away with anything, apart from rather exhausted legs!
One note of caution if you have not been to Amsterdam for a long time: in England we have to watch out for cars when crossing the road. In Amsterdam you first have to negotiate the cycle lanes before you get to the cars, then suddenly in the middle of all this you then also have to negotiate the tram lines - most disconcerting!
Additionally when the pedestrian crossing goes green, oh no, though the cars and trams wait for you not so the cycles - you still have to check before crossing the cycle lanes. And then to cap it all not only do some cycles join you when going across the pedestrian crossing, but you may get the odd moped crossing with you!
When we got home we were informed by our cyclist daughter that cycles have priority in Holland !
Finally as Holland is indeed rather flat, if you go February/March time do wrap up well; not only is it windy but the wind is still a mighty chilly one.