Netherlands Emails: (29/a zillion)
The Dutch DC...
On Wednesday we went to the Hague to get a tour of the Royal Library (which was an adventure finding, because of - surprise, surprise - construction.) By now tours of libraries had become sickeningly standard for us, but the Royal Library managed to wow us with an exhibit of ancient texts and government documents in a joint exhibition of the archives and the library. Unfortunately, lack of funding is forcing the library to stop making those kinds of exhibitions. :P After the tour of the library, we went our separate ways, and I stopped at an albert heijns for lunch foods, then headed straight for theMauritshuis, an art museum that is housed in a building done in the neo-classical style, right next to the dutch parliament building and offices. On my way there, I saw a giant crowd of people dressed in black robes and white cravats, all gathered in a square. The mood was more relaxed than anything else, and there was an orchestra playing music under a tent, so I was rather confused. I asked one of the police officer's monitoring the event, and she told me that since this square is adjacent to the parliament building, it is used for protests against parliamentary decisions - the people in robes were lawyers and judges, and they were protesting a recent decision. Chillest protest I ever saw. :D
The Mauritshuis is possibly my favorite art gallery that I've been to in the Netherlands, which is saying something, considering the number of galleries I've been to. It's not so much the collection of art that the place has, as it is the place itself - instead of the modern fashion of giant blank walls with one painting on them, this house has retained it's character, with elegant wall fabric, bits of furniture placed around the room, frescos on the ceiling, and (most importantly) no giant paragraphs written on the walls! I get so distracted by those - I feel like I have to read them all, but then I barely even glance at the art itself. At the Mauritshuis, you get an audio tour free with admission, and I've finally realized how great those are - you can hear about the context of the piece or about specific details, without having to take your eyes from it! Genius! I don't know why it took me so long to realize this... So I wandered through the relatively small museum (two floors, eight rooms each) slowly, enjoying the atmosphere of the place as much as the art.
Afterwards I wandered towards the Binnenhof, but I couldn't find the entrance (I actually accidentally entered one of the office building - even went through x-ray and bag check - before realizing my mistake and sheepishly making my exit), so I moved on to the Prince William V Gallery, the first art gallery/museum open to the public in the Netherlands. It's a tiny collection, done in the traditional gallery style, but remarkable because it was essentially a private collection open to the public. What's even crazier about it is that it's in this tall, skinny building typical of dutch homes, but right next to an old dutch prison. They also have tours of the torture room and gaols, but I missed the last tour and didn't feel like wandering through on my own. An interesting video on display at the gallery speculates about the reason Prince William V chose to have his gallery next to the prison - their theory involving symbols of cultural/intellectual and judicial/legal power... meh, who knows?
By then it was after five, so I wandered to the Oudekerk (because a dozen churches just isn't enough) and just checked it out from the outside. I saw signs for the "Oudekerk Markt", which sounded like an open air market, but when I followed them, they actually led me to a metro station underground! At first I was like, "Is this an underground mall? Is Markt some sort of metaphor?" before common sense hit me. Whatever. I hopped on the metro back to Central Station, not wanting to walk back as it got colder (autumn had finally made it's presence known in the Netherlands, after some annoyingly muggy weather), then grabbed the metro back to Rotterdam, but not after finally weakening my resolve and getting a tall soy vanilla latte from Starbucks. Bad new bears, there: starbucks cards do not work in the Netherlands - no free soy and flavor shots for me! :( Found Jaime and Ariel on the metro and helped them navigate the confusing Beurs station (you have to actually ignore the directional signs in order to get to the right platform without having to check out, then in again, with your chipcard), before heading to the Rotterdam library for one last night of reading/chess watching.