February 2023

A month of Protests, cold weather and of course, Valentine’s day.

For the protests, we avoided the streets but watched the parades of protests pass under our balcony. For the cold weather, we continued to wear our winter wear. For Valentine’s day, we bought fresh beignets and delivered them to our favorite folks. To celebrate it for ourselves, we went to Amsterdam.

We had booked seats on a train from Lille to Brussels (30 minutes) and another from Brussels to Amsterdam (two hours). We got on our train to Brussels and were confused as to why we and a Brit were the only ones sitting in it, when a conductor came by and asked us to leave. The only explanation we (and everyone outside the coach) received was that this was NOT the train to Brussels, when clearly by the coach sign, it was. The second conductor we found told us more factually that the train had been canceled (by the protests) and wasn’t making the trip. So, we got a different one – better, with a direct route from Lille to Amsterdam, instead of the Lille to Brussels – Brussels to Amsterdam. We were notified that our return booking from Brussels to Lille had been canceled and made a note to try to get tickets on the direct route going home. We couldn’t avoid traveling on Tues and Thursday, which are the preferred days of protest, because we had purchased tickets to a Vermeer museum exhibit on Wednesday.

The Vermeer exhibit was correctly touted as once in a life time for it’s uniqueness in the amount of his work shown in one exhibit. He has 37 works attributed to him – 2 recently attributed to Rembrandt were recognized as Vermeer’s. Among the 28 works assembled for this exhibit, there were 4 from the Nat’l gallery of D.C., 2 from the Metropolitan in NY, 3 from the Frick Collection, 2 from London, 5 from Germany and 3 from the Hague The Girl with a Flute (lent by DC) and St. Praxedis (from Tokyo) were included although both are still being contested as to being Vermeer’s work. A complete listing is in the photo below.

To understand why this exhibit was so unique, G researched why it was such a rarity in the lending process. The Netherlands Vermeer’s have not been lent since their holdings in nearly 3 centuries, so if you want to see the bulk of his work in an exhibit, it naturally has to be based in the Netherlands. When Frick bequeathed his collection to the Frick museum in NY, he stipulated that the paintings could not be removed. The Frick museum is currently being renovated and the paintings had to be relocated for safety. This exhibition took advantage of the loophole and that is how they were able to include those pieces; Officer and Laughing Girl, Girl Interrupted at Her Music, Mistress and Maid. Should anyone else put together an exhibit anywhere in the world, those pieces plus the Netherland’s pieces – would never be included. So of course we went and most of the exhibit we had never seen in person.

After a late arrival to Amsterdam due to the train issue, we had an hour after hotel check in, before dinner which was a taxi ride away. G had made reservations at de Silveren Spiegel, a Michelin star rated restaurant housed in a historic building from the 1600’s.

https://www.desilverenspiegel.com/history

Dinner was a 8-course with wine pairing. I remembered from the last multi course dinner with wine pairings in Vienna, to leave a quarter of each tasting on the plate. Regardless of the petite serving sizes, I have always felt uncomfortably over stuffed at the end. This strategy really helped me avoid that. The service was impeccable, the places set with Silver serving ware and the food was amazing, as were the wines. We took some pictures of the labels, which hailed from France, Portugal, Spain as well as the Netherlands. It was an incredible meal.

Then the next day was Vermeer.Johannes Vermeer was born, raised, and died in Delft (1632-1675). He grew up surrounded by the paintings in his father’s art business. Brought up in the Reformed Protestant faith, he may have converted to Catholicism when he intended to marry Catharina Bones. They had fourteen or fifteen children, eleven of whom survived infancy. In addition to belng a painter, Vermeer was an art dealer and headman of the artists Guild of St Luke. He died early, aged 45, and left his poor wife and children with debt.

Typical of Vermeer are his contemplative scenes set in tranquil Interiors, his mastery of perspective and rendering of light. Certain objects and interiors recur with regularity. This creates the impression that this is how Vermeer’s surroundings actually looked, yet the world he presents is invented. He accurately observes optical effects, such as sharpness and blurriness. Vermeer’s scenes are tranquil and subdued, sealed off from the outside world. And yet it is present. Vermeer lets it in by opening windows or having someone look out the window.

How do you suggest a pictorial space on a flat surface? Vermeer mastered this skill step-by- step. Although only very little of the room in Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window is depicted, he achieved depth through the left wall at right angles to the back wall. Moreover, he turned to scenes of daily life as his subject matter. The green curtain seemingly hangs in front of this painting. Pulled aside at the right, it offers a view of the woman reading and the large painting-within-the-painting behind her featuring Cupid, the god of love, gazing out at us.

Until 2019 Cupid was actually hidden under white overpaint. The painting’s recent restoration revealed that this was not done by Vermeer, but later, by someone else. With the removal of the overpainting, it becomes clear just how well the painting fits into Vermeer’s early development. Vermeer included the Cupid painting with minor variations in other pictures as well

The exhibit we loved but there were too many people to really enjoy the works which was just crushing. Just like everything else world wide, it was over-touristed and sold-out for the day. We have since seen that the exhibit is completely sold out and the Rijksmuseum is updating its ticket availability. Although the paintings are hung well with lots of room around them and some have their own entire wall, there were still too many people jockeying for position, with their cell phones – couldn’t get near unless you shuffled in to the front – which is too close to really see great work. I asked G why people couldn’t just buy the guide books on the exhibit – the prints would be much better than their phones. He said he was taking a few for our blog so maybe it was to show someone at home, that they had really been there. What was really irritating were the number of people who were using their flash features on picture taking. So incredible that they were ignoring the basics of photographing these marvelous pieces.

To avoid my own frustration, I hung back, watching the flow of people and for gaps – then zipping in at the gaps. But even this seriously depleted the joy of seeing the work and not quite incidentally garnering the watch of suspicious guards as I lurked in corners waiting for a good moment. We left utterly spent. It was one of those times where you could imagine being a billionaire and arranging to view the works, alone, before opening. Only happens in movies, but I can dream. Here is a link to the exhibit https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/whats-on/exhibitions/vermeer

In the afternoon, G wanted to try a chicken place he had read that was highly rated. We used Google maps for a route and it informed us that it was a ’15 minute’ walk. The ‘15 minute’ walk turned out to be an hour long – Crazy. But the rotisserie chicken was very good and the fried wings were too, so G was very happy. Instead of relying on Google, we mapped our own course back to the hotel and it took 30 minutes, which was much nicer.

We walked the streets and window looked since the weather was so pleasant. A nice relaxing end to the day before our return trip. We were not able to get the direct train trip and our Amsterdam to Brussels route worked perfect, along with the assigned seating. It was the Brussels to Lille that suffered a protest slow down, causing us to get home an hour later but that was more an annoyance than an actual problem.

We took naps when we dropped our bag but then I overslept and missed a video chat with a dear friend. Very sad to do that because our ties to our friends and family are not ones that we take for granted.

After we returned and beginning on February 17, Brazil’s Rio Carnival began during the Lenten season. We were alerted by a café friend that there would be Brazilian dancing and food for the evening. We returned for dinner (sorry, no photos – we were too busy eating) and caught the dancers. Another fun evening.

Another highlight of the month was that we joined a subscription to the London National Theatre online. We used to go to a movie theater in Oakland which showed the London Nat’l Theatre’s productions and really enjoyed them. The first one we caught online was Frankenstein with Benedict Cumberbatch, an outstanding actor, and it was a marvelous production. This will undoubtedly be an enjoyable addition to our evening viewings.

On Good Friday, I made a bread pudding (Capirotada) with G, which his mother used to make for Lent, that turned out very well. Then we had fun delivering it to the building neighbors, and then out to a few others. Half the fun is our making it, together. G is a guy who likes to work in the kitchen without acting like Gordon Ramsey.

We watched the global weather this month as its extremes put snow on the US west coast and just as astounding seeing the drought in Venice that left all the gondolas sitting on dry canal beds. Our winter here for some reason this year feels like it has been inordinately long and we are looking forward to spring.

A the end of month, our French classes started on the 27th and we are at it again for the next eight weeks.

Here’s to the good weather to come!