On Sunday I started at the Van Gogh museum, this being one of the most popular attractions. I was able to get in with minimal waiting. The museum is well organized in telling the story of Van Gogh and his art. They have the advantage of his large output of painting and frequent letter writing. There were several works that I had never seen. I had a light lunch at the café, and noted the man sitting at the next table looked rather like Van Gogh's self portraits.
After lunch, I walked to the nearby Diamond museum, which is a commercial enterprise but had a nice demo of the mining and cutting process plus reproductions of famous diamonds. At the 'factory' next door, you could watch them polish and set the diamonds and then you are funnelled through shops where you can buy jewelry for thousands of dollars. I spent a few minutes in the garden at the Rijksmuseum, and because the weather was so good, a lot of people were out getting sun. The Van Loon museum was next on the agenda. This is a house owned by the family that ran the Dutch East Indies company so were very wealthy. They had a special exhibit of family fashion inside. The house was gorgeous and beautifully furnished with a lovely garden and coach house. In the evening, a group of us were going to the Concertgebouw to hear Mitsuko Uchida. We met to take the tram to a restaurant nearby called Solo eaten en drinken. Everyone loved their meal and we were conveniently kitty corner from the hall. The Concertgebouw is a shoebox style so the orchestra seating is flat. The piano was on a high raised platform. She entered from above and walked down the stairs to reach the stage. It was a really remarkable performance. We were in awe of her playing and the acoustics in the space. At intermission, we discovered that the ticket includes a drink! How clever!
After lunch, I walked to the nearby Diamond museum, which is a commercial enterprise but had a nice demo of the mining and cutting process plus reproductions of famous diamonds. At the 'factory' next door, you could watch them polish and set the diamonds and then you are funnelled through shops where you can buy jewelry for thousands of dollars. I spent a few minutes in the garden at the Rijksmuseum, and because the weather was so good, a lot of people were out getting sun. The Van Loon museum was next on the agenda. This is a house owned by the family that ran the Dutch East Indies company so were very wealthy. They had a special exhibit of family fashion inside. The house was gorgeous and beautifully furnished with a lovely garden and coach house. In the evening, a group of us were going to the Concertgebouw to hear Mitsuko Uchida. We met to take the tram to a restaurant nearby called Solo eaten en drinken. Everyone loved their meal and we were conveniently kitty corner from the hall. The Concertgebouw is a shoebox style so the orchestra seating is flat. The piano was on a high raised platform. She entered from above and walked down the stairs to reach the stage. It was a really remarkable performance. We were in awe of her playing and the acoustics in the space. At intermission, we discovered that the ticket includes a drink! How clever!
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