Today I bring you two hot takes:
- After being here about 10 days or whatever we’re at now, I have come to the conclusion that Dutch and Simlish are the same language. Dutch kind of, almost could be English – sometimes I can pick words out of spoken phrases. We can also make out a decent number of signs, more than I thought we could. And also like Simlish, I don’t understand it, but plenty of other people do.
- All the art from the 1600s til about the 1800s that falls into the “historical” category – that is, art which depicts biblical or greek mythological scenes – this is all fanart. I am not wrong.
Here – in support of my Dutch/Simlish argument – have a listen to this news clip about bike racks (“fiets” is one of my six Dutch words):
Tuesday was museum day in Amsterdam! We had tickets to the Rijksmuseum – the national museum – and the Van Gogh Museum. We even located parking with some zappies so we could plug in Ol’ Smoky and return to a fully-charged car after we were done with our day. Yeah!
The Rijksmuseum contains a treasure trove of art by Dutch people, as well as lots of things they had obtained during their peak of seafaring and trading. It’s also home to several famous pieces by Rembrandt, lots of Delftware, and a surprising amount of really intricate model ships.
There were lots and lots of very white baby Jesuses and bored-looking virgin mothers, as one does in Europe.
I am particular to Mary Magdalenes and Saint Catherines, because the former always looks sassy and the latter has a badass sword.
Whenever there was a Black person in a painting, they were either one of the magi, or a slave – and the artists never knew what to do with Black skin compared to the white portrait subjects (or the pigments used really faded vs the rest of the painting). They were kind of like lurking, 2-D spirits…and I don’t have any good pictures of this.
I decided romantic paintings are my jam, as I really love the drama portrayed in the skies of the paintings, or the fury of nature.
The exhibit about Rembrandt’s Night Watch and its restoration was an incredible story. I don’t think I appreciated how huge that painting is in Animal Crossing. They restored the painting a few years ago and now it is mounted and every bit of tension and moisture around the painting is monitored carefully to preserve the picture for years to come.
Once we had seen every pale-faced baby Jesus there is to see in the land, it was time for lunch: Indonesian food!
Our second stop was the Van Gogh museum: dedicated to his life and body of work. They had exhibits about his technique, composition, and how he employed color theory. I enjoyed seeing the brush strokes and the thickness of the paint up close. The museum of course had many of his paintings, and it was also home to a surprising amount of works that were not by him, but by other artists he had inspired.
I learned later that you’re not supposed to take pictures but I only noticed this after I had taken many pictures. I assume the rule is just there to prevent people from exposing the art to flash (phone flash is trash, you should only ever use it as a flashlight and not for photography).
Oopsie. Nobody kicked me out for my photographic transgressions.
I enjoyed seeing his sketches in particular – the process behind his paintings was fascinating, and not something I had seen elsewhere before.
This is also how I learned that my museum tolerance is about two museums in a single day. I am now braindead. For an easier time back to the central station, we hopped on a tram. There were too many sickos coughing on the tram, so we ejected after a few stops and chose to walk back to the central station.
It of course rained on us on our walk…but I successfully located bandages for my foot blister (caused by not bringing good socks on the trip)! Pro tip: these are usually sold at pharmacies and almost never sold at grocery stores like they are in the states. I guess that is sensible but it is also annoying.
The canals and buildings in the Amsterdam city center feel impossibly clustered together. Many of the old building fronts lean forward, which makes it feel a little bit claustrophobic from the streets.
Today, it was only medium rainy butts, so we set off to Hoge Veluwe national park, southeast of Amsterdam.
The park is supposed to be great for wildlife and biking. Today it was windy and mizzling, so the biking would not have been that fun. We did a few short walks in the park and saw a red deer (mostly heard) wayyyy off in the background from a wildlife blind.
Hoge Veluwe is also home to some big-ass sand dunes, some grasslands (the internet tells me they are technically “heathlands”), and some lovely forested bits of Douglas Fir. It smelled like christmas trees. Very nice.
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t sand dunes. If you were to ask me what I was expecting: it is rain. I always expect rain.
On the way home, we made a very important pitstop for Taco Bell: a forbidden food for me at home. It was as delicious as I needed it to be, without the salt! They also serve fries?
Back at our lodgings near Monnickendam, it is incredibly windy – with gusts up to 40 MPH. All. The. Time. There are not a lot of trees here and I’m sure that contributes to the wild winds.
Tomorrow, the only plans we have for certain are getting rained on!