April 9 – Amsterdam, The Netherlands, PM. After lunch and a quick wash up we're hitting the streets again to take a canal boat tour of the city. D and I have done this twice before but it's always fun to ride in the boat through the canals.
The canal boat picked us up at another pier in the same place the Swiss Jewel is docked so it was a short walk and hop on the canal boat. One think different this time, they served us Dutch apple pie with ice cream and coffee. It was very good.
We sailed past Anne Frank's house, the narrowest house in the world, the old church, many houseboats, some very nice, some almost sinking. We got off the boat near the Rijksmuseum and walked. My favorite church steeple has a bright blue ball atop it. One day I'm going to have to see the inside. It's the Westerkerk on the Prinsengracht canal. Rembrandt van Rijn was buried there. Since he was poor his grave was not marked. They think he's somewhere along the northern wall. We also passed the Amstel Hotel. You may remember it as the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled is baby from the window.
The most enjoyable moment for me was when we passed a rental boat with about 10 girls, two moms and one lonely boy. Nine of the girls were about 11-12, the boy was about 8 and the tenth girl was about 4. They had decorated the boat with balloons. The nine preenagers were all talking and smiling and laughing. I think the boy and the smaller girl were probably siblings of the birthday girl. The boy was at one end of the boat with one of the girls. They were looking at a book or papers of some kind. Good for him, already learning that big sis can bring around some good looking girls. The poor little 4-year-old is sitting at the other end of the boat. They've made her wear a very bulky, bright orange life vest. No one else has one. She looks either sleepy or very bored. Her cute little chipmunk cheeks are being squeezed in by the bulky ends of the life vest's collar.
Gosh, just thinking about seeing some fantastic paintings has me analyzing my photos as though they were art! Yikes!!
The museum has undergone a complete restoration since we were here last. It looks the same on the outside but the inside has been completely redone. In addition there's a new building at the rear that's connected by a large enclosed atrium. It's really nice inside. Before it was a little dark and not very inviting, although the art was and still is outstanding.
My favorite painting in this museum is Vermeer's 'The Milkmaid' from 1660. I've seen it three times now and always find something new in it. There's a brazier one the floor at the right and I just noticed that there's some Delft tiles along the bottom of the wall. One of these tiles has the image of Cupid on it. Was Vermeer hinting at the fact that milkmaids were reputed to be ladies of free virtue, that this particular girl was in love or that Vermeer himself was attracted to the model. Who knows but he painted it in there so it must have had meaning for him.
Of course Rembrandt's 'The Night Watch' always has a large crowd. It's his largest, most complex, most energized and most famous painting and has become the centerpiece of the entire museum. There's a lot of activity in the painting and it's replete with symbolism.
I always enjoy the simplicity of Rembrandt's 'Early Self Portrait' from 1629. The look on his young face is priceless. Every time I see it, if I look at it long enough, I see different emotions one after the other but I can never settle on one. It's almost Mona Lisa like to me in that regard.
As you know I can ramble on about a work of art for paragraphs. Interpreting every little element and giving it meaning the artist probably never intended. I'm not going to do that this time.
The visit was fairly short but the guide did manage to get us a look at the most important works.
We sailed out of Amsterdam at sunset. A very pleasant sight.
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