The Royal Palace is a solid building which was begun in 1648, just after
the Peace of Westphalia, and was finished in the course of seven years
at a cost of 8,000,000 florins ($3,216,000). It is not a beautiful
building; but in its structure and its inner equipments it is
interesting as showing the character of Dutch life and government. You
bring from a visit to the palace an impression of the solidity, power,
and the enduring virtues that are the ancestral inheritance of the
Hollander.
No visit to Amsterdam is complete without a sight of the Zoölogical
Garden, which is one of the best in Europe, and a trip out to the unique
little Island of Marken. There in that odd spot you will find all the
picturesqueness of Holland in solid deposit. Gaily colored costumes are
everywhere; houses are queer in structure and in furnishing; and manners
and habits of life are peculiar and interesting. But let the visitor be
cautious in Marken. It has of recent years come to be a show place,
stocked with all sorts of Dutch articles of no special value, most of
which are manufactured solely to catch the fancy of the unwary tourist.