Around Amsterdam

I did some walking around Amsterdam after the museum. It’s such a unique city.

A beautiful canal.
I used to collect little houses like this.
The beautiful interior of the Rijksmuseum.
Cheese for tourists.
I had some famous Amsterdam pea soup. It was very good.
They have crepes that are thicker than those in France. I got one with Nutella on it. It was too rich for me to finish but very good. The guy next to me had M&Ms added to his. There were huge waffles all over the place too, and pancakes.

Art

After the Vermeer exhibit, I went into the rest of the museum which is wonderful. I was here many years ago.

It’s famous for having The Night Watch by Rembrandt. My memory from seeing it over fifty years ago was of it being in a small room, not at the end of a huge hall. I asked a man there if it had always been in this location and he said yes, as it was right by an emergency exit if ever need. This is a photo of a copy of the original as it is being restored as you can see by the next photo.
There is a platform in front of it for work. If I had been two months earlier it wouldn’t have been there but on its front as they took out nails and did what was required before it was turned over.
Also by Rembrandt.
These as well.
They have a fabulous library there too.
A pretty lamp seen at night through a hand blown glass window somewhere in Amsterdam.

Artist

A few weeks before I returned to Paris I read about an exceptional exhibit of the work of Vermeer in the Kijks Museum in Amersterdam. It featured the largest collection of his work ever done. He only had done about 34 paintings as far as we know, and the exhibit would have 27. Amsterdam isn’t that far from Paris by train so I thought, « Why not? » and got online. Everyday but one was full. Only three time slots were open and I slide in under the wire and got one of the last at 8:30 at night which meant I would have to spend the night but I don’t mind spending time in Amsterdam, a wonderful city. So, not long after I arrived in Paris, I was on a train to Amsterdam. The exhibit was fabulous. The gene for height must be strong in the Netherlands because I had trouble seeing around a lot of tall men but got to see it all. Most of the paintings are very small.

Here’s the entrance to the magnificant museum.
The maid pouring milk-my photo is a little fuzzy as I was leaning out from behind a tall man.
Who doesn’t know The Girl With thr Pearl Earring? Many of the same jackets and jewelry were seen in the paintings and almost all involved that beautiful stained glass window letting in great light.
A girl laughing with a soldier.
The Lacemaker on loan from the Louvre. Vermeer, by the way, died young and left his wife a widow with 11 children. She gave away some paintings to pay bills.
Seen afterwards when I went outside.

Windows

I’ ve seen a lot of windows as usual in Paris.

This window looking like a garden was a Dior creation with only one purse and two shoes.

Colored filters were set up looking like windows to me.

The Louis Vuitton store on Place Vendome covered in dots as part of a colaboration with Yayoi Kusama who is 93.
Nice reflections.
Here is a kind of robot of Kusama window which is very lifelike as it moves.
As you can see, part of the store has the dot thing going on.
Another view. You need either a reservation or a passport to get in so I just looked from the outside.

Paris Photos

A mix of photos seen in the last few days as I am back in Paris.

Would you believe that these beautiful doors are in a public restroom? Built in 1905 in the Art Nouveau style, it has been closed for twelve years and has been renovated and reopened. I saw it years ago when I first came to Paris. It costs two euros to use it.

I went to la Mademeine Church on the last day of an art exhibit. It was called Tears of Joy and was very beautiful.
A closer view.
Each tear drop had a flower or a plant.
The church was commissioned by Napoleon as you can see by the fresco on the dome with all sort of religious peole bowing to him.