The Prequel

The Dutch Masters



We started the day badly -- gastronomically, that is. The only thing open at 8:30 was an unexciting English pub/cafe so I had eggs and bacon and Charo a club sandwich -- how blah. The platters came laden with food, tons of it, which we exclaimed with horror we’d never get through ... and did! Three fried eggs on 3 pieces of toast, salad and a whole pack of salty bacon was all just for me and was, actually quite effortlessly, polished off. And, surprise, Charo did just as thoroughly with her order. We ascribed it to jet lag.

While we indulged, we looked around and discovered that our hotel was wonderfully located: surrounded with theatres, bars and restaurants, and within walking distance of so many attractions. The plaza in front of the hotel, the Leidseplein, had a major intersection of 5 streets on which cars, buses, trams, motorbikes, pedestrians and bikes criss-crossed each other with no island on which to take refuge. It was quite intimidating to cross, especially since there were no side-walks: pedestrian and bike lanes were separated from car traffic only by a line of colored brick ... the number of times I was almost run down by a bicycle! I was intrigued at all the people on bikes, some pushing little wheelbarrow-like boxes in front filled with groceries or children; others talking on their cellphones while pedaling; one woman with an infant on the handle bars, a toddler behind and 2 youngsters on bikes accompanying her.


Our first target was the Rijksmuseum to see the Rembrandts. It was different, and much improved, from what I remember from 30 years ago. I didn’t realize, or forgot, that there were famous Van Dycks, as well as Frans Hals .. in short, all the Dutch Masters. I got a great overview and understood for the first time why Rembrandt was so famous then and considered such a genius now. His work must have been cutting-edge in his day. He was very bold, creative and original in the way he did his rough and thick brushstrokes; in the way he posed his subjects and composed his pictues; and, of course, in the way he used exaggerated contrasts of light and dark. “Ciarroscuro”, I was taught in Art History class but only now, with his contemporaries’ work all around, did I understand how different and original this was.

There seems to have been two styles: rough and smooth. I marvelled at the perfection of the smooth style, with no brush strokes seen, smooth as lacquer and the skin with a glow that seemed to emanate from within. The portraits of Verdonk were in that smooth style, whereas Frans Hals figures didn’t have that glow because his brushstrokes were purposely rough. The paintings have to be seen in real life since they all look smooth and polished in reproductions.

I loved the museum and spent the most educational 2 hours in it. But I had to hurry off and go back to the hotel as I was feeling really nauseous from the Tamiflu I was having to take.

A city of serious bikers.


This is a garage for bikes -- all 3 storeys of it.


This was right beside our hotel, advertising a festival of street theater.
The performance was on the street right by the hotel, as well. (groan)