THE NETHERLANDS & LONDON CONTINUED

Anne Frank Haus is a very sensitive & carefully constructed museum and as such an incredibly moving and sobering experience .

 The following day we blitzed the art gallerys. The newly renovated Rijksmusem was a remarkably beautiful building full of Dutch art focusing on the halcyon days of great art with an empire to finance it. The really

Rijksmuseum

 annoying thing in all their millions spent & careful planning was to allow photography in the gallery so every man & his dog (and in the "masters galley" there are hundreds of people at a time) all snap happy with flash lights abalze reflecting in the glass that the masterpieces had covering them AND of course whilst they are spending all their time getting the best shot they are not really looking at or appreciating the painting!!!!!
 But oh to see those Vermeers & Rembrandts that have only graced the pages of  books in the past!!!

Then on to the Van Gogh Museum which is right next door & thankfully are rigid in enforcing their policy of no photographs. Astonishing to see sooooooo many by the master at once and to be able to get so close to the art!
Vincent,who never personally sold a painting, would be truly amazed at the size of the gift shop & the myriad of ways his art can be plastered over objects & the money that is to be made in the process!

 The next day to relieve our exhaustion we took the train to Delft..a lovely little town just south of Leiden where Vermeer lived & worked (only slightly fewer ways to sell Vermeer that Van Gogh in the many gift shops)

DELFT

 So Sue has departed and I flew to London...only an hour flight.

It is great to see Ben although he is busy working and as his flat is the size of a shoebox life can be a bit challenging..but I will be off again in 3 days when Belinda arrives.

Today I took myself off to The William Morris Society at Hammersmith ( a few stops on the tube from Ben's)on the River Thames  in Morris's old coachhouse & meeting rooms for his Hammersmith Socialist League. The lecture they had on offer today was about socialists & wallpaper...right up my alley!! No seriously (and it was very serious in that English sort of way) "William Morris furnishings in the homes of George Bernard Shaw & his circle by phd candidate Alice McEwan was it's title & presenter!Simply ripping!

view from Morris's "front yard"

Go William!

Enough for now of my ramblings

Kath