Like any good tourist, I spent a week in Europe visiting various museums. During our stay in Paris, we naturally ended up at The Louvre. By and large, itās a fine museum with an impressive collection. Anyone who appreciates the arts (or gadgetry, as the museum has an attached Apple store...) should absolutely see the worldās largest art museum if the opportunity presents itself. Be prepared to encounter very large crowds, however. Fortunately, the museum is large and spacious enough that the sheer volume of people is manageable.
The worst crowds, by far, were at the Palace of Versailles. We took a bike tour of the land surrounding the palace, which was fabulous. Biking proved to be an excellent way to take in the town and learn a bit about the history surrounding the Palace. Because the land is so vast, although you encounter other people, it probably wonāt feel particularly crowded. The Palace interior is another story. For some reason, tourists often lack any sense of self awareness. If you are moving down a small hallway in a crowded museum, it is NOT OKAY to suddenly stop walking and form a traffic jam. This is tourist etiquette 101, write it down. Commit it to memory. Repeat the sentence while meditating.
My favorite and most memorable museum visits were in Amsterdam. The Rijksmuseum and The Van Gogh Museum almost brought me to tears. The beauty and excellence collected at The Rijks was unlike anything I had ever seen. The Dutch masters were actually decent little doodlers. Likewise, The Van Gogh Museum taught me more than I ever knew about the artist. In fact, I knew very little about him before visiting his collection - I didnāt even know he ended his own life. His life story is told in written excerpts beside his paintings. Itās a story of loneliness, family, friendship, and mental health. Vanās (can I call him that?) dedication to his craft inspired me to resume this blog, after the unnecessarily long hiatus I wrote about last week.
Since returning from my travels, I also took up water coloring and watching old episodes of Bob Ross. I donāt have any specific ambitions of being a painter, but the act of putting colors to paper is peaceful and fills me with ideas that I wouldnāt have otherwise. I canāt help but see the world in a beautiful new light. Admittedly, this might still be the post-vacation glow gradually wearing off. But I hope the feeling lasts a while longer.