June 4, 2024

The Adventures of Periwinkle and Stinky

 

Periwinkle excitedly paced back and forth in front of the Teleportation Tunnel.  Any minute now she expected to see her handsome boyfriend, Stinky.  Sure enough, the Tunnel started to rumble and he popped out.  She took his paw, gave him a quick whisker kiss, and guided him back into the Tunnel, saying "We have a long way to go so we have to head right out."  Knowing how well she plans things, Stinky followed without question.

In a flash, they landed at their destination.  Nothing looked familiar to Stinky so he asked where they were.  Periwinkle explained that they were in Amsterdam and were about to visit the Cat Cabinet cat museum.  Stinky said, "I remember how much fun we had in the other cat museums we visited so let's go!" 
 Having done her research, Periwinkle described the Cat Cabinet to Stinky.  "The Cat Cabinet was founded in 1990 by Bob Meijer, a Dutch businessman, in memory of his beloved cat, John Pierpont Morgan (named after the American banker J.P. Morgan). It is situated in a beautiful 17th-century townhouse along the Herengracht Canal, one of Amsterdam's most picturesque and historic areas. The story goes that J.P. Morgan (the cat) was given presents for his birthdays including painted portraits, bronze sculptures, and even a book of limericks!

Paw in paw, they entered the museum.  Stinky couldn't resist climbing on the window sill in the sculpture room.  Periwinkle rolled her eyes but didn't say anything because she knew he was safe there since it wasn't very high.
The tabbies enjoyed seeing the various types of art.
Of course, Stinky couldn't resist running to the top of the stairs.

There were posters everywhere.  Stinky spotted a space kitty one and pointed it out to Periwinkle.

They strolled through the garden where they saw many more posters.


Periwinkle continued "The museum's collection includes paintings, sculptures, posters, and various objects from different periods, all featuring cats. Notable artists such as Pablo Picasso, Rembrandt, Henriette Ronner-Knip, and more have works displayed here." Stinky was impurressed by her knowledge of the museum.

They both gasped when they saw the ginger Tabby. "I'm glad my brofurs Cooper Murphy and Raleigh don't look like that," said Stinky. Periwinkle said she was glad their pal Teddy didn't either.


"Can you tell me more about the cat, JP Morgan?" asked Stinky. Perwinkle knew he would ask and had more background on JP Morgan (the cat).  
"The Cat Cabinet was inspired by a cat named John Pierpont Morgan, named after the famous American banker J.P. Morgan. Bob Meijer, the founder of the Cat Cabinet, was deeply attached to his cat, J.P. Morgan. After the cat passed away, Meijer decided to create a museum in his memory. Every five years Morgan received a special present. On his fifth birthday Ansel Sandberg painted his portrait. On his tenth birthday it was a bronze sculpture, for which Morgan himself modeled. Unfortunately, this sculpture was stolen already before the opening of the Cat Cabinet. For the celebrations of his fifteenth birthday his friends and admirers compiled a book of fifty limericks, all dedicated to Morgan: “A Cocky Cat from Toulouse and Other Cat Nonsense”.

For that same birthday, Aart Clerkx made a portrait of Morgan so that he could easily replace George Washington on the American dollar bill. A set of these dollar bills was printed from the bank of Pierpont Morgan for the occasion. The text “In God We Trust” was especially replaced for Morgan with the text “We Trust No Dog” which made them both giggle.



"It would be fun to have green papers with OUR photos on them" said Stinky.

As they walked they saw other interesting items like a cat pinball machine...

and some slippers that they both agreed their Moms would probably break something if they tried to walk in them...

They spotted two of the resident cats napping and decided to join them for a bit...

After their nap they went to the gift shop where they both purchased Howling Cat posters for their Moms.

It was time for them to return to Periwinkle's house so they re-entered the Teleportation Tunnel and, in a blink of an eye, were back at her house.  Stinky visited her fursibs and her Mom and then took his poster and headed home.  Before he left, they took this photo to remind you that today is Hug Your Cat Day!

Here's a video that shows more about the Cat Cabinet (some of it is a bit out of focus)


And a link to the official site.  https://kattenkabinet.nl/en/

12 comments:

Leah said...

Fabulous place for a tour, tabbies! We'd enjoy going there, too!

Meezer's Mews & Terrieristical Woofs said...

Oh, WOW! I've been to Amsterdam but didn't know about that place! Bummer, LOL!

That sure was a fun place to visit and enjoy all the cat things, including the real ones!

Pam and Teddy said...

WOW! What an interesting place! My Mom and Dad have been to Amsterdam but didn't know this was something fun to see there. That ginger cat kinda looks like me when I'm grumpy (even though I'm not grumpy often!!). Very cool and thanks for the link too!!!!!

Hugs, Teddy

Lynn and Precious said...

What a great tour you have shown us. We love anything kitty!

da tabbies o trout towne said...

P and S…how total lee awesum thiz add venturez iz‼️‼️me N de gurl
had never hurd oh thiz mew seeum….. theez werkz oh art put me
art gal o ree ta shame 😺😺‼️‼️

eye N joyed reedin bout j p morgan
and hopin who ever steeled hiz sculpturez, 😼😼😼ree terned it

bet yur momz could make greenz with yur facez on them..but
uze like de hundred πŸ’΅πŸ’΅πŸ’΅

thanx for de aweum trip…and eye dinna even knead a pass a port πŸ˜ΊπŸŸπŸ’™πŸ’š

My Mind's Eye said...

OMCs...this was such fun and well planned
Hugs cecilia

Kitties Blue said...

What a totally cool place. Mom watched some of the video and will one back to watch the remainder later. We particularly like JP Morgan on the money. Some of the paintings in the video showed some pretty weird looking cats. And we are all in agreement that we’re glad neither Teddy, Cooper or Raleigh look like the orange cat sculture. We are happy that Stinky was fairly well behaved. He said he had a meowvolous time! Sawyer sends Noelle all his love and oodles of whisker kissses. XOCK, angels Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta & Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth, Calista Jo, Cooper Murphy, Sawyer, Kizmet, Audrey & Raleigh

Sandee said...

What a fabulous adventure. I would love to visit there too. Wow.

Thank you for joining the Happy Tuesday Blog Hop.

Have a fabulous Happy Tuesday. Scritches to the kitties and a hug to your moms. ♥

Brian's Home Blog said...

WOW! That is some special place. I never heard of it but it sure looks terrific!

pilch92 said...

That was a fun date. If it was closer, I would want to go there. XO

catladymac said...

What a neat visit ! Glad we could go along !

messymimi said...

That's a fabulous place, if I ever get to Amsterdam, I'll look it up.