12 June, 2008: It was raining hard that day but it did not prevented us from joining our excursion to the Royal Dutch Mint, popularly known as the Money Museum and to a nearby multi-cultural community Lombok.

Inside the museum, we had a guided tour around the rooms where you can read the (dutch) money's history and see the valuable memorabilia. Each of us got a free swipe card, which you can use to have your face in design-your-own money or in a newspaper and print there. You can also play vendo games using the card if you do not want the previous two. It's a bit of a pity that we're not allowed to take photos inside otherwise; I can show here how the Euro coins are made. Looking through the partitioned glasses, we saw how those nickels are put in a mixer and end up rolled in their 10's and 20's and so on. Yes, they are making the coins there at the museum, but the bills are made someplace else, in Haarlem. Sometimes, they also received orders to make other country's coins, like African coin. We winded up our mini-tour in a mini-cafe inside to the treat of our teachers.

After that, we headed our way to Lombok. Lucky us, it was not raining anymore. Weather’s been a bit cooperative at that time. Some students and teachers walked along up to the park and bid goodbye before reaching Lombok. So it was just 6 of us, 3 students and 3 teachers who finished the whole trip. Still, it was fun.

Lombok is a community built around 1900's in an industrial terrain. It's a sub-district of Utrecht City. It was one of the first multi-cultural communities in the city having most of the Turks and Moroccan guest workers as inhabitants. The community has a rich history exemplified by the historical sights in the area like the old soya factory, the church and the canals.

Why Lombok? I do not know. Well, Lombok is the name of an Indonesian island and also a sort of Indonesian hot pepper. If I were to guess, perhaps it would have something to do with Indonesia as a former Dutch colony or perhaps the person(s) who named this sub-district was fond of that hot pepper.

Our little trip was very fun and educational. I have been living here in Utrecht for 2 and half years now but never been in the Money Museum before. I have been to Lombok but not as a "tourist", just a usual passer-by.

With this experience, I remembered the story written by Annie M.G. Schmidt (my favorite Dutch children/women stories writer and playwright): the paradox of being a tourist (in your own city). People often visit (first) other places than their own place's historical sights and cultural features. It would need them to go to someplace else and be in Amsterdam or Utrecht, for example as a tourist to appreciate the place's rich history.

And in my case, it needed an excursion to be at one of the city's touristic places.

Anyways, for our final destination, we went to the Museum Cafe, which is unfortunately closed now. That day was the last day of their operation. The municipality closed it down because of low generation of income and low budget. The cafe is supposed to be a museum, than a drinking hangout but it had been the other way around. Sayang.

Aye, Another unforgettable experience. Another treasure I have kept in my chest of memories. :-)