Mural

 On our way to the start of a sundaymorning walk in Amsterdam, we saw this:

It was impossible to stop there. So we had our walk, and on the way back we stopped. 

The facades of four buildings on the Van Diemenstraat are painted with the theme shipping. The work has become an ode to the journeys of Willem Barentsz and his crew to the far North  in 1596. They tried to find a new way to the East but got stuck in the pack ice.

So the sailors had to spend the winter on Nova Zembla and built a wooden house for this purpose.

The ship's doctor kept a diary and the drawings from that diary are the basis for these murals

The sailors had to stay on that island till summer. And then finally they could leave, hoping to reach the Netherlands.  But one week after departure Barentz died,

The paintings brighten up the grey neighbourhood a bit. In this area the names of the streets are names of sea heroes like Willem Barentz. 

Linking to Sami's Colourful world.