Hail Yes

Europe is giving me a proper send off. The weather has been horrendous of late. Prague was pretty nasty but Holland is not be outdone. It has been alternately hailing, snowing, sleeting, and raining over the past few days. I had intended to travel to some of the cities that are still on my list but I just can't get excited about them in this weather. I'm not built for this. Instead, I went to the two major museums in The Hague: the Mauritshuis and the MC Escher museum. The Escher museum is not much to see but I am glad I went because it gave me some exposure to an artist that I otherwise would have ignored. Everyone has seen his more famous works like the self portrait in a mirrored sphere. But, he also created some impressive landscapes of Italy where he spent much of his life. Most of his work was wood carvings which makes it all the more impressive. The carvings were then dipped in ink and placed on a canvas creating the images you are used to seeing at Spencer's or on introspective high school student's t-shirts.

The Mauritshuis houses two extremely famous works: Vermeer's "Girl with the Pearl Earring" and some other guy's "Goldfinch". "Girl with a Pearl Earring" is impressive. You see it on signs and postcards all over Holland where it fails to inspire. The original is considerably more moving. The Mauritshuis gives you a free (gratis in Dutch) audio guide that is well worth the frustration of dealing with the crusty old Dutchman manning the booth. I walked up to the audio guide booth, which functions only as a place to pick up or drop off an audio guide, and the guy just stared at me contemptuously. I asked him for an audioguide but if I had it to do over I would have asked for an ice cream. The audio guide said the Girl is an ideal, not a representation of some actual person. But, it also said that we don't really know who she is. I would like to believe that she was Vermeer's muse and that's just what I am going to do. That's the beauty of art.

The museum also featured a exhibition of Dutch cityscapes. I have visited many of the cities on display so it was a treat to see them through the eyes of the Dutch masters.

There is a concert going on tonight featuring the Black Keys but it is sold out. I didn't buy tickets because I expected to be out of town this weekend. The good news is, I can now watch them Gator boys in their tune up for Florida State. One week and one day until I return to the States.