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Day 17 ... highlights Rijksmuseum and Grachtenfestival (Canal Festival)
... today was our last full day in Amsterdam; we decided to spend it at the Rijksmuseum [pronounced R-eye-xs-museum ... roll the 'R'] which just re-opened in April 2013 after being closed for eight years.
My day began with one last jog around the perimeter (x2) of Vondelpark ... logged 6.5 KM ... came back and put one last load of laundry in, grabbed a quick shower and met Sabine and her Dad at the museum.
Rijksmuseum
... spent most of our time in the 1600-1700 and 1700-1850 sections, and took a quick tour of the Special Collections rooms. Really enjoyed the Rembrandt rooms and was captivated by "pen paintings" of Willem van de Velde (1653) ... I've never seen anything like these incredibly large pen paintings on canvas. My favourite in the series of four "The Battle of Livorno" is #4 of 4 ... today's photo shows a close-up of the centre of this piece ... the layers of detail are intricately done and the emotional chaos draws you into this colourless world ... I personally feel that is what makes this work so enthralling - the absence of colour.
... we then spent time in the museum's gardens ... and out into the common areas where there is a variety of performers to enjoy [ranging from singers to street performers/tumblers].
Grachtenfestival (Canal Festival)
... so over the course of the last couple of days at the end of the canal we're staying on they were beginning to put up festival flags ... and yesterday work began on constructing a pontoon stage. We were lucky enough to enjoy the first evening of the Grachtenfestival which runs August 16-25 - tonight was the festival's kick-off event.
... we enjoyed hearing the classical music filtering into our abode and then couldn't resist so we went to join the throng of onlookers ... the classically trained orchestra featured a young internationally-recognized harpist [couldn`t quite catch his name but he was incredible]. Sprinkled throughout the event ... opera singers performed as well as a mixture of modern dance and ballet. It really was quite magical. The streets and bridges lining the canal were completely packed with people ... and the waterway around the pontoon was packed with boats [lucky ducks they had the best seats in the "house"!!]
... because we'll be enroute to Paris tomorrow and I likely won't take many photos I will post the night shot I took at the close of this event ... if we have a good Internet connection that is ... we'll see ...
Today's photo: as noted above this is a close-up of the centre of a pen painting by Willem van de Velde ... it really is an incredible piece of work - you can even see the reflection of the boats in the rough waters ... and remember this is only a small portion of this painting ...
Cheers All - RGR
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