We spent Saturday in a Dutch national park, “De Hoge Veluwe“.  It.  Was.  Awesome.

The Dutch national obsssion with bikes apparently led to the creation of this park, which is, admittedly, out in the back of the beyond and requiring two separate bus trips (one of them very, very long) out there.  Then this wee little shuttle picks you up at the bus stop and whisks you further out to the countryside where a guard waits at a gate and a little hut houses two friendly Dutchwomen who will be happy to sell you a ticket to the park (but not the art museum inside) for a mere 7 euros.  Once you’ve shown the guard your ticket, you can walk over to the bike racks which house several hundred white, not-terribly-nice-but-still-effective bikes.  Some have baby seats in various locations, but most are just plain old bicycles.  Grab one, hop on, and bike (following the directional mushrooms) to the museum at the center of the park,whereupon another Dutch gentleman will be happy to sell you a ticket to the Kröller-Müller Museum (student prices 3.50 euros; not sure what regular price is) and yet another will very politely coat-check your jacket and purse, and then you are free to explore the museum and the extensive and awesome outdoor sculpture garden.

There was an extensive and spectacular collection of van Goghs (of course), quite a lot of pointillist stuff, a few Mondrians (I took some photos in case I decide to make quilts out of them), and a bunch of stuff by an artist I had never heard of (look, art is not my thing.  Don’t hate me.) named Jean Metzinger.  I had honestly never gotten van Gogh before this trip; I’d seen plenty of prints and had a sufficiency of art teachers wax rhapsodic, but nothing really captures the buttery texture of his light like seeing it in person.  It was wonderful.

There was also a room with two works by Ana Maria Tavares, The Wish-ribbon net and Crystal Waters.  Both were very, very lovely and made me happy in a very deep and quiet way.

(Also, apparently my camera is somewhat flaky and only takes photos about half the time I tell it to.  I am displeased, but will struggle through.  I guess that little flashing hand warning symbol actually meant something…who knew?)

I did a quick walkthrough of the sculpture gardens but was pretty arted out by that point, so instead two friends and I went for a ride around the park before riding back to the entrannce.  We met up with a larger group heading back into Arnhem at the bus stop, then about six of us decided to head back to Rotterdam that afternoon, as we were pretty pooped, not sleeping very well in the hostel, and in need of a quiet day of leisure.  Which is what I did.  which is when these entries got written.

Backdatedly yours,
Sarah