CHASING PAINT

travel light, pay attention

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Trips
    • London 2022
    • Vienna
    • Amsterdam
    • LA
    • Lisbon
    • Madrid
    • Paris
    • Prague
    • Preparation
    • Rome
    • St. Petersburg
  • Contact Me

Sunday & Monday, April 20-21, Day 1 & 2

April 22, 2014 by Virginia Parker 3 Comments

Cue Monty Python’s And now for something completely different.  Easter Sunday the plane was jammed but the flight was brief, landing twenty minutes early. I got a taxi right away and was at my B&B door in no time. My driver had a blonde buzz, blue suit, dark glasses, and a deadpan expression. He looked like he could be working a secret service detail. I’m in an Ingmar Bergman movie in terms of how people look, which is a lot like me. Tow-headed women are bare-shouldered in sundresses and flip flops. It’s like I went to sleep in NYC in the winter, and woke up in LA in the spring. People are in bright colors and patterns, clothes fit haphazardly and loose, flaxen hair as far as the eye can see. And everyone is physically bigger, hale and hearty, like they all just came off a farm in the midwest. The thin, edgy, sleek, groomed-to-the-teeth look that everyone and their dog had in Paris is a fading memory.

B&B

I was welcomed into a bright and airy kitchen/breakfast room/garden by my host, and I can tell immediately why this place is #1 on TripAdvisor. He offers me a much needed cappuccino, and spends a good 45 minutes acquainting me with the area around the bed and breakfast, using a map he annotates for me with restaurants, stores, and museums. He’s patient with my questions and just easy to be around.

In my room – large and bright, simply and very comfortably furnished, I spread out my belongings, plug in my electronics, and head out to buy a museumkarrt that will do for me what the Louvre card did, get some Euros out of the ATM and find a lunch.

Hit the Seafood bar – which was slammed, but they found me a seat at the bar. Sad to be told mussels are now out of season, I settled for fish and chips. Seafood is very different when you live by the water, unlike my landlocked hometown.

seafood bar

Afterwards walked to the Stedelijk – the modern art museum – because that’s where I could buy my museumkaart and not have to wait in line. Because I was there, and because I had the museumkaart and a ticket to the place in my hand, I walked through the galleries  Now, I was raised by a southern lady and taught that it’s better not to say anything, if you can’t say something nice. So here, I’ll post some photos. Recall that I’ve been marinating in the Louvre in all her gloire and magnificence and this is what greets me at the Stedelijk.

Here are two art works which are, yes, a black square and a white square. I think somebody wrote a play about this.

B&W

But wait! There’s sculpture too.

table

If you happen to love this kind of thing – terrific! You can have my place in line. More room for you! Feel free to dismiss me as a philistine and a fossil.

To be fair, on the second floor there was a visiting exhibition of large format photographs by Canadian Jeff Wall, which I found captivating. I spent a long time with his work, which functions as a kind of portal into his view of the world.

wall 1

Moving right along,  Monday morning breakfast was brought to my happy, sunny room on a tray. It’s exactly what I wanted. plus a flower.

bfast1I lounged just inside the door of my balcony that overlooks the private gardens in the courtyard. Pots of flowers on most of the other balconies, baby laundry strung out on some of them. The gardens are charming, with tulips and grape hyacinths, vines and trees. It’s a homey little neighborhood-within-a-neighborhood. Lots of baby and child ambient noise, which I don’t mind. It makes a change from drunks singing on the street at 3am in Paris.

Went to the Rijks today and it It is petite after the Louvre. I arrived early and got a good look at the Hall of Honor residents before the deluge of visitors arrived. Vermeer and Rembrandt and Franz Halls. My idea of a good time.

Lunch in the museum café was a tasty open-face pastrami on rye with sauerkraut, and I drew postcards. Weather is variable. When I left the B&B for the museum, a pleasant fifteen minute walk  women were in sundresses and flip flops. When I left the Rijksmuseum, it was spitting rain, and I wished I had my mittens.

Amsterdam has me reeling, in a good way. It feels more like a village than a city. Owls hooted through the night, and birdsong woke me up, including one that sounds like a bicycle bell. I picked up fresh fruit and green salad for my dinner from a market. I’m in bed, writing this, all cozy and warm and listening to the rain. Oh, and the marble floor of the spacious, modern bathroom is heated. Ah.

Filed Under: Amsterdam Tagged With: Amsterdam, B&B, Rijksmuseum, Stedelijk

Sunday & Monday, April 27-28, Days 8 & 9

May 5, 2014 by Virginia Parker Leave a Comment

It rained all day, from trickle to downpour. Had I just arrived, I would have suited up in my raincoat, most easily dried shoes, and umbrella and hit the street, or called Uber and ducked the drizzle entirely in one of the museums, or the royal palace.  But it was a Sunday, a day I avoid museums because everyone else is there,  and the royal palace was closed. The famous fields of tulips would not be a pleasure in the rain. At mid-morning I went out to the Screaming Bean for a coffee. The streets were deserted. I suppose most of Holland had a hangover. I ended up sitting at a table on a cushy banquet in a mostly deserted eatery, and reading for pleasure. When I noticed lunchtime had arrived, I  went for one of their top end (19E) item, Five Tastes, out of curiosity.

IMG_8883

It was artful and delicious, and looked fit for the Stedelijk. A plus for me, it was more like 25 bites (yes, I counted). On the minus side, the lobster bisque was indelibly salty. Nevertheless, I was pleased to eat something rather less hearty than bread and cheese. When I left, I picked up some milk and fruit at the market and went back to the B&B, after I admired the orange juice machine. I want one in my local Publix!

oj2

I decided to take the rest of the day off – read and nap. We all need a day of rest, even the traveler. Maybe especially the traveler. This trip has required sustained physical and spiritual exertion. I’ve been well rewarded for my effort,  but it has costs too.  I’ve really missed the sustaining companionship and consolation of my significant other. One of the excellent things about being bonded with someone is the daily opportunity to appreciate what he brings to the table. You can’t miss ‘em if you don’t go away, but I sure have missed him.

Monday, April 28, Day 9

A woman on a shopping mission, I walked 30 minutes to the Monday morning Westermarkt in the Jordaan, following my progress on Google maps on my iPhone. I ended up doing this most of the time – getting my bearings on a paper map first, then plugging my destination in on my iPhone and glancing down to make sure I turned left or right. It has served me well.

I had fond memories of looking for a souvenir amid the trinkets and treasures on my last trip. A photo I took in this market became this painting, Vermeer Recycled.

VParker_Vermeer Recycled_oil-linen_09_16x20

This market is designated for cloth primarily, and sure enough, there were bolts of fabric and zippers for sale, along with shoddy but cheerful teeshirts extolling dope and sex, and cheap scarfs (2 for 4E).  The other area of the market, near the church, is higher end, with vintage bits and pieces, handmade ornamentation (calling it jewelry is going too far and not far enough)  boho clothing, boots and sneakers, books and leather bound journals, fruit and veg stalls, and (hey, I’m in Holland) cheese.

cheese

I started at the very beginning and was funneled along between the tents of merch. I really do hate crowds. Shuffling along, crammed cheek to jowl, personal space erased, I felt like one in a flock of sheep headed to slaughter. It made me nervous for my wallet and my iPhone, and I kept a tight grip on both. If I had been younger, I would have been nervous for my virtue. However, I entered the shopping fray with a will, flipping over dozens of plastic wrap packages to choose two tee shirts (2 for 5E ) from a bin* and four pairs of leggings (2 for 5E) printed with images of models from the seventies ( my era!) newspaper print, tigers and tattoos.**

*When I opened them later, they turned out to be worth rather less than what I paid for them but good for what they were. Tissue thin material and the XL fits like a Small, but they are for the girls who like thin and tight, so win win!

**Major score. Emily could hardly choose between them, she loved all of them so much.

Very shortly the merch in booths repeated with blocks and blocks to go. I broke out at the next opening and rushed towards the church end along the open street. Remind me never to get on the subway at rush hour in Tokyo. Many women in hajibs and abayas moving at a deliberate pace, were polite and noticeably courteous, while the Dutch women, generally jolly and optimistic, were ruthless shoppers. No ‘excuse me’ or ‘pardon’ would induce them to step aside, and if they were zeroing in on something they wanted to purchase, they threw elbows like the NBA. A nation built on trade and tolerance, they take their haggling seriously.

From there, followed the Google maps directions to the nearest tram and journeyed to the Rijks. The Yellow Post-its I’ve loved to read were everywhere. A new guide to the museum’s collection was available, titled Art is Therapy, organized by Alain de Botton & John Armstrong. https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/art-is-therapy

It’s genius. It’s taken the museum’s artworks and offered them in a new light, one that reminds us, using specific works paired with interpretive texts, how art can offer solace, insight, and encouragement.  I snapped up the guide and begin the best treasure hunt ever, with big yellow post-its marking the spots.

Here’s an example – first the painting, of the interior of a church.

church

And here’s the Post-it text, cropped for just the English version.

text

Here’s a snippet of the philosopher’s manifesto:  “… the focus should be less on where an art object comes from and who made it, and more on what it can do for the museum visitor in terms of issues that concern us all: love and relationships, work, status, memory and mortality.”

Isn’t that delicious? Even if you aren’t in Amsterdam or planning a trip there, you can download the free Rijks app that includes a guide to this exhibit, and listen as the text is read and an image of the art is shown.

Do it.

Do it now.

 

Filed Under: Amsterdam, Short Trips Tagged With: museum, Rijksmuseum, Stedelijk

Trips

Archives

May 2025
M T W T F S S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031  
« Jul    

Recent Posts

  • Bellingham Vibe: Chill.
  • Birthday # 34
  • Valley Deep, Mountain High
  • Bunnyingham
  • Travel Day
  • Back to Bellingham, City of Subdued Excitement
  • Street Scenes, British Museum, Frog
  • Robin Arrives
  • St. Paul’s Cathedral, Remember the Ladies.
  • Raphael and Nancy
  • Lost and Foundling, Dickens House Museum
  • British Museum, British Library

Recent Comments

  • Virginia Parker on Cupid, You Little Rascal
  • Michael Ridgway Jones on Cupid, You Little Rascal
  • JAY on Consider Eternity
  • Virginia Parker on Rome: Look Down
  • Tzippi Moss on Rome: Look Down

[easy-image-collage id=2199]

Copyright © 2025 Virginia Parker · Log in