Pitching

Milan had to play ball today and he was asked to pitch again and he does so pretty damn OK. You can see his skills increase. Awesome!

I'm still playing this game on my phone. Still like it :-)

Late arvo we helped Larisse delivering papers.

After dinner Simone and I went for a walk.

The weather was very Dutch. SO was the landscape. This is what the country looked like before we put a million people city here...

Use your imagination

I went to work. Got my free lunch. Had drinks and nibbles afterwards with colleagues. Went home again. You will have to imagine the pictures yourself coz I didn't make any :-)

Visiting Madurodam

We visited Madurodam with the kids today. The weather was fabulous and it was a lovely thing to do. Nice and relaxing. Madurodam is an outdoor theme park with lots of minuature versions of famous Dutch buildings. So naturally windmills are some of the first things you see when you enter...

This building  is a water-tower I believe. We used to drive past it everytime we went to visit my grandparents close to Rotterdam. My mom and dad always said "Look, there's the cigar", meaning that the long ride was almost over.

Overview of the park.

When you get close to some places it's almost real.

The Dam. You can see the palace on the left, the "Nieuwe kerk" on the right and Magna plaza in the back.

Minuature version of the replica of VOC ship "Amsterdam".

Amsterdam canals. In the back is the Munt tower.

This building from Amsterdam is called "The ship". It was designed in the "Amsterdamse school" style.

This house on the left is actually one of my favourite Dutch museums. The real one is in Friesland and houses the oldest working planetarium in the world. Check out their website here.

Village scene. Wouldn't know if it's a random scene or if it's actually from somewhere...

"Lange Jan" ("Tall John") from amusementpark "The efteling".

Trains were driving everywhere.

Tiny trainstations.

Big trainstations...

Cargo train in an industrial area.

Of course the burning ship was still there. Apparently I liked this particularly much as a kid when I was here with my family.

This is the fruit/veg auction in Broek op Langendijk close to where I lived.

Couldn't tell you what this is but it looked very nice ;-)

Err...

Apparently I didn't make any pictures today. It's just a boring working-day anyway. Just wait for tomorrow's blog! :-)

Liberation-day

Today we celebrate the liberation of The Netherlands at the end of WWII. All through the country there are festivals. I took the day off because unfortunately today is not a bank holiday...

Simone, the kids and I went to a festival in Zwolle because a boy-bank called "Mainstreet" was performing there and Larissa just luuuuuuuvs them ;-) Before they came on though there was this big band on stage.

Mainstreet is 4 boys aged 16 and 17.

The girls went nuts. I thought I was going deaf... It was fun though and I'm happy for Larissa to be able to see them like this.

Remembering

Today we remember those who died during wars and other fights around the world, trying to protect freedom.

There's a big ceremony on Dam square and Milan got invited together with some class mates and other kids, to add 1 flower at the monument.

This monument. It was very busy but at 8PM there's a 2 minute silence which is wonderful and very special. I try to attend every year. I went with Simone and Larissa this time.

Rembrandt

Today I finally visited the Rijks museum here in town. Eventhough I have been living in Amsterdam for about 20 years I've never been although I have been wanting to go for a very long time.
At the moment there is a very special exhibition of Rembrandt's from all over the world. It's only once every 50 years that such a complete collection is nearby so Simone and I went to check it out. We were not disappointed! :-)

The "Late Rembrandt" special exhibition can be seen in time slots of 2 hours. Since we had the last 2 hours of the day we went early to see some more painting. The painting I really wanted to see was the incredibly famous "De nachtwacht" ("the night-watch"). It's a great painting indeed.

Eventhough it was really busy you can still see the paintings well. You just have to have a little patience.

I liked this one for the karikatures. It's like 6 little devils around Jesus.

This was one of my favourite paintings. I learned that you should not stay too far away from a painting.

Because when you come closer, you start to see more detail that is easily skipped. In this case her face is painted so well it's almost a photograph, especially her eyes are done so well.

Portrait of Titus, Rembrandt's son.

In this painting there was a high level of detail again that was easily missed.

Just after 15:00 we entered the special temporary exhibition with Rembrandts from collections all over the world.

Self portrait.

It's hard to photograph but the painting was so well done. Just like the next one.

The jewelry was sparkling.

Here's another truly great painting. It's a cut-out because the painting is actually a fair bit wider, but these four men are portayed so well. Together they are looking at someone as if they are giving that person the biggest "WTF", ever. Even the gesture of the guy in the middle suggests a big WTF...
Furthermore the face of the man on the left is so real it could be a photograph.
Great painting.

I wasn't aware Rembrandt made beautiful drawings and etchings.

They are quite small, mostly 15-30 cm wide. You really have to come very close and see all the little lines. Each and every one put down perfectly.

I forgot her name, it's a scene from an old story, but she just stabbed herself and is dying.
If you look at her face you can see her sad, peaceful eyes just staring in the distance, numb.
Beautiful painting.

Here's another drawing from a far.

Here it is from close-by. Made up of lots and lots of little lines.

This is also a woman from some story. Beautifully painted, especially her face I think.

I am truly impressed with Rembrandt's work. The museum has paintings of other great painters but Rembrandt does really stand out.

And then it was time for a delicious burger at the Hard Rock Cafe!