Eliot's Travels

The first Friday of each month is free at the Legermuseum (Army Museum), so the boys and I decided to check it out. The museum is housed in a 17th century arsenal, as the Holland seal shows 1692. The kids area was called Richt Ridder (think knights and swords) and also had a Boom exhibit (gun powder), but it was geared toward older kids. Most kids things we've seen is geared toward kids over than 5 or 6 and above. The boys didn't much like the sound, so we moved onto the museum. It has an impressive collection of army items starting in the Roman times - a few helmets and swords from 0-500 BC - through modern day. Miles was a pretty uncertain about the weapons, so he was keeping Eliot between him and the spears. I think he thought the knight armor would start moving about.

Here on the third floor, we saw a few models of battle scenes and military installations. The boys really enjoyed seeing the toy soldiers, little trees, cannons and boats. They weren't too sure about the battle sounds though. Eliot's two favorite parts of the museum were the models and the uniforms. We especially enjoyed seeing the interesting hats from the middle ages. Eliot liked the red mohawk on a silver helmet with a golden lion on the front. The museum included a pretty impressive collection of soldier uniforms from Holland and other countries. We saw a beautiful model of a sailing ship including cannons on the side.

The bottom floor covered the World Wars and also UN efforts in modern day (Bosnia). Here we saw tanks, big weapons, soldiers with gas masks, and more. I must say that walking admist the soldiers, guns, and tanks gives you quite an eerie feeling. The largest tank completely dwarfed me. I cannot imagine seeing that come down the road, much less trying to destroy you. To think what war must really be like is quite frightening. It gave me goosebumps. I couldn't help but think about Iraq; how very scary for all involved - soldiers and civilians alike. Eliot observed "Mommy, I don't like all this stuff they use in war. I am afraid of it." Overall, though, it was a good museum and an important reminder of how precious all life is and how out of hand things can get.

posted by Whitney @ 3:46 AM