Skip to main content

Visiting The Hague and Amsterdam (Netherlands), and Paris!

Since late March, I've been planning an international solo trip that included meeting up with friends.  

The planning is what makes a trip an adventure, and it was definitely fabulous -- now that it is in the rearview mirror -- so to speak.  

During my two weeks abroad, the sights visited included the:
  • Mauritshuis, a lovely art museum (The Hague, Netherlands)
  • Binnenhof (The Hague, Netherlands)
  • Delft (Netherlands)
  • Kasteel de Haar, a castle (Haarzuilens, Netherlands)
  • Museum Speelklok (Utrecht, Netherlands)
  • Walking Tour of Amsterdam (Netherlands)
  • Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
  • Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
  • Dutch Resistance Museum (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
  • De Oude and Nieuwe Kerks aka old and new churches (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
  • Anne Frank House (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
  • Sainte Chapelle/Conciergerie (Paris, France)
  • Giverny - Monet's residence at one time (outside Paris)
  • Versailles (outside Paris)
  • Musee d'Orsay/VR Event titled 1874 Impressionists First Exhibition (Paris)
  • Sacre Coeur (Paris)
  • Montmartre (Paris)
  • Dali Museum (Paris)
  • Saint Germaine des Pres (Paris)
In addition, activities and other things that made it even more special included:
  • attending a classical musical concert at Sainte Chapelle (Paris).
  • meeting old and new friends (Amsterdam and Paris).
  • taking a Rembrandt Paint Mixing Workshop (Amsterdam).
  • eating a Dutch Pancake and a Belgian Waffle (Amsterdam).
  • the kindness and helpfulness of strangers along the way (of course, being careful and aware).
  • the sounds of carillons, church bells and songbirds (especially in Delft and Giverny).
  • a serendipitous visit to a church where a symphony, choir and soloist were practicing for a  performance later in the day (Delft).
  • a canal cruise that provided opportunity to see sites from a different perspective (Amsterdam).
  • the extraordinary tiramasu at Tozi's (Amsterdam).
  • the fun from a well-done and enjoyable virtual reality experience (Paris).
Sainte Chapelle, Paris

Giverny (outside Paris, France)

Vivaldi played on accordian outside Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Orchestrion at Museum Speelklok, Utrecht, Netherlands

Performance Practice at a Church in Delft, Netherlands

Please consider visiting my Smugmug.com site (at the link below) to see trip photos if these video shorts have whet your appetite for more!
  

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Highjacked Blog Photo

My profile photo was highjacked ! For those of you who are blogging, be wary. There are some unscrupulous folks out there who may be using or about to use a photo(s) you've uploaded to an online photo-hosting site. At the time I created a blog, having a URL for a photo uploaded online was the only way to insert a photo in your profile or to create a custom header. There had been no problems for a long while. This morning, however, I did a Google image search for my name and found my photo linked to a totally different blog than my own! It is possible I didn't mark my file with the online photo-hosting site as private, but I didn't expect this to happen. I don't know whether marking it private would have actually averted the situation, but I'm not waiting to find out. I eliminated my membership to that online photo-hosting service today and caution anyone to be careful with uploading images to the internet . If you read the terms of agreement at many sites, you'...

Life Book 15 - Week 36 Project Completed (or nearly completed)

This project went in an entirely different direction than the Life Book 2015 lesson.  That's ok because we're also working on accepting those times when we move in our own direction using the lesson purely as a launching point. This piece involved experimenting with collage on a substrate (muslin covered with joint compound), followed with paint, more collage, and then the felt, fabric and beaded plant. This piece was created through a class offered by Tamara Laporte from Willing Arts Ltd. For more information, visit this link:  www.willowing.org .

Pottery Play Day

Today, I threw a couple of bowls, but my ability to center was not working.  It could have been partly due to the new-to-me clay I tried using.  In addition, I trimmed three others.  One of those three ended up being very experimental...in that I tried a version of mishima on the interior of the bowl.  Mishima is a technique of painting a leather-hard vessel with an underglaze(s), then waxing the layer, and finally...carving a design in the underglaze/wax surface before the vessel is fired into bisque. I tried it, and we'll see how it comes out.    Below are the five vessels of Batch #8 that I brought home today.  Of them, there are two new things I tried.  The stripy one was done with one base layer plus a second layer of alternating painted stripes of the base color and mulberry.  The other first is where I used a base layer and added two different lip colors of different widths. Lately, I've noticed other potters getting some great results...