The Van Gogh museum

Frankly this museum was, as Wayne put it, underwhelming. Perhaps it was the contrast with the breadth and depth of the Rijskmuseum and all its drama, or perhaps it was because our energy was flagging, but it just didn't up lift us. Van Gogh explored so many styles during his short life, it was hard to get the full force of a coherent body of work. Nevertheless there were definite high points like the sunflowers painting.

A particularly irritating aspect of the museum was the descriptions. The Dutch explanations in bold white font on grey background were hard enough to read, but the English descriptions in lighter non-bold font were virtually impossible unless your nose was at the wall. Try that in a big crowd. I fail to understand why people prioritize some weird sense of artistic desirability over sheer functionality.

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Naarden

Naarden is best known as a star-shaped fortress town. It's a very compact town of 17,000 inhabitants with the walls and moats very well preserved. We walked out through the town gate to admire the fortifications. We walked out through the town gate to see the walls and the moat: The town itself is very pretty and not surprisingly is considered one of the prettiest towns in Holland. We just loved the church. Those paintings on the ceiling are quite spectacular. We spent some time wandering, and having a very pleasant lunch. One thing that surprised me was the number of very nice clothing stores. It seems retail is alive and well in the small towns of Holland. This observation was underscored in other small towns we visited. Very nice clothes too!

Water, Water, Everywhere

Storm Surge Barrier at Maeslantkering near Rotterdam To tour the Netherlands is to marvel at Dutch ingenuity in water management. With one quarter of Holland below sea level and one half at one metre or less above sea level, the Dutch have lived with the threat of flooding for their entire history. The country boasts over 17,000 kilometres of dikes, along their rivers, intended to protect residents from flooding. But one night in 1953, the confluence of an especially high spring tide and a wind storm over the North Sea struck just after midnight and caused water levels to rise more than 5 meters above normal, breaching the protective dikes. Radio was off the air and government agencies were not staffed; there was no warning for the residents of low-lying land and islands. By 3 a.m., more than 1,800 people had lost their lives. The Netherlands decided to get serious about a new era of flood control water management. They wanted to have defences that would handle once-in-a-t...

Along the paths and canals of Amsterdam

The Begijnhof One of the conference sponsors hosted an interesting guided walking tour of Amsterdam for 8 of us from Canada, US, India, Taiwan, Ghana, Africa, Australia and the Caribbean. My favourite part of the tour was the Begijnhof, shown above. After its long history as a Catholic almost-convent (the women took vows but were free to leave to marry), this beautiful peaceful enclave has 105 residents, all widows. After the bustle of Amsterdam, your heart rate responds to the serenity of the quiet closed-off courtyard. Amsterdam's oldest house is also found here. The homes in Amsterdam are distinctive both for their gables and for how crooked they are. Sometimes this is because their pilings have deteriorated, but partly it's intended: the upper stories usually lean out to ensure the furniture which is to be brought up by that hoist on the gable won't hit the house, as dramatically shown down this little street. Of course we walked through part o...

Netherlands 2017

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