Museum for Ladies today!

Today I spent my time in the Museum of Handbags & Purses! Yes, there is a museum for that. Actually this is the largest museum IN THE WORLD devoted to the bag; a 500 year history & they have a collection of 4,000 bags. Yea, I hear you men yawning already but did you know that handbags were carried by men & women alike in it's infancy because men's clothing didn't have pockets either. It was so interesting. The oldest bags were from the 16th century & they had bags up to the present. The museum is housed in a magnificent canal house that was built in 1664 in the heart of Amsterdam. If you'd like to check out the website, here it is: http://www.museumofbagsandpurses.com/. Enjoy some of my pictures below.

Some of the most beautiful & oldest beaded bags.

Women carried their belongings on these long chains; sewing scissors, snuff box, dance card, Bible, etc.

These bags were carried on the ladies belt with the huge hook you see at the top of each bag.

These items are made from TOAD!!! They're from the 1930s.

This is portable school desks...kids didn't have desks so they carried these to school. The kids who's fathers had the higher-paying jobs had the fancier "desk".

Just one of my favorite beaded bags/envelopes. Women would carry their sweetheart's letters in a bag such as this. I need one of these!!

I liked these because I love birds.

We are headed to London the the weekend then Ed has business on Monday & Tuesday. Monday is our 36th Wedding Anniversary (yes, Valentine's Day...so the Marine could never forget it. Little did I forget is how expensive flowers are on Valentine's Day! DUH!!) so we'll spend it in London. I'll sighsee with friends that I'm meeting there, Ed will be working! Then we'll have dinner Monday night & head back to Amsterdam on Tuesday. So I'll see you all next week!!! Happy Valentine's Day!!!