The ice sculptures

Today we visited the ice sculptures in Zwolle, a 1.5 hours drive from Amsterdam. When we got there we found out that there was a 90 minutes wait to get in so we went into town first to get some lunch.

When we returned about 2 hours later, the wait was "only" 45-60 minutes. Since we drove all the way for this we got in line and waited. It wasn't too bad in the end and what we saw inside was worth the wait!

Here are some pictures of some of the best sculptures on display:

This aborigaml man playing the didgeridoo was my absolute favourite!

This rhino and zebra were very nice too!

This is my second favourite sculpture. Fantastic.

It was a very nice and well spent day!

ANNE

Tonight I went to see the theatre play "ANNE" together with Simone, Milan, Larissa and Simone's mom. The play is about Anne Frank's life when she was in hiding with her family dusring WWII.
It was a good play.

The "LOVE" sculpture / The sunset.

I saw this photo on Facebook. It's from the "Burning man" festival in America. This sculpture is called "Love" and created by Alexandr Milov from Ukraine. I think I like this sculpture the best out of all that I've seen in my life.

"It demonstrates a conflict between a man and a woman as well as the outer and inner expression of human nature." - from http://burningman.org/event/brc/2015-art-installations/#LOVE.

Well, I LOVE it for sure! I think we all feel like that sometimes. I feel my inner child is still very alive (and I like to keep it that way!) and maybe that's why I forgive and forget so easily...

I took my car for a spin tonight. It's getting dark sooner now. I can feel autumn and winter approaching.

First time I took photos with the lights on.

Even more so: never saw the side markers lit-up till now!

Vroom vroom! Nice, I like my set of wheels.

This needs checking out though. I think there's an oil leak close to my fuel pump and I think it's getting worse.

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!