People in galleries I

Vermeer

Magdalena Abakanowicz

Edvard Munch

Magdalena Abakanowicz

Robert Indiana

Continuing on from my earlier post; over the years I’ve taken pictures of people looking at art without thinking much about it. I now realise that I should be more mindful of doing so, as I could easily turn it into a project. These are from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Tate Modern and the Courtauld Gallery in London, and Yorkshire Sculpture Park. The three first pictures are from the packed Vermeer exhibition that was on a couple of years ago, and can you believe it, I got told off for taking pictures of people! That’s never happened before. In the old days you’d get told off for taking pictures of the art on display, but this was a first. They made me delete pictures there and then, but I didn't show them all the ones I’d taken. I think it might have been because they didn’t want it to be known how busy it was, or maybe it was a privacy thing. But guys… it’s me! I take pictures of people from behind, weten jullie dat niet? Although pic 5 is clearly evidence to the contrary… 😬

Stuck at home

Amsterdam, 25/08/23

Feel a bit like this guy/gal at the moment; I’ve gone down with the worst cold I’ve had in what feels like decades (not Covid). Even though it’s totally effed up, I’m grateful for the warm weather we’re having, as I’ve been able to sit in the garden in the afternoons and read. Silver linings - always.

A good Saturday

10 days ago, very early in the morning, this is what I saw as I was eating my Pret breakfast. Seeing hen parties as you sit and wait to board an 8am train is a bit nerve wracking, as all you want is a quiet carriage and a pleasant journey. Fortunately the two groups we saw were getting on the Paris train, and not ours to Amsterdam.

It was time for a repeat trip to my home from home with D & A, a year later. A had the foresight to bring playing cards and we warmed up with this game, where you didn’t want to end up with the queen of hearts. Such a fun and simple one, with lots of tension. And yes, D picked it up here.

The four hour journey goes really quickly when you play cards. We realised that we might be the last generation who play regular card games, as I can’t imagine today’s kids being that interested, when you have games like Exploding Kittens etc. I have to teach Oomoo this though, which I hadn’t played in 20 years. Shithead is such a brilliant game, the perfect mix of strategy and luck, and the fact that your hand can change very quickly, from good to bad and back again makes it really fun.

Arriving in Amsterdam is really easy now that my friend Z lives in Noord. Once we arrive at Central Station it’s a five minute tube ride, and boom there we are.

Just like last year we headed straight to Liever Hier for lunch, and this time we got a great table, so great that we stayed there for a couple of hours, eating incredibly well and catching up.

The table was hidden amongst the tall grass (much taller than last year)

and Z picked some to take home

as well as some cow parsley.

I asked Z to take a seat here as I wanted a picture of the café (to the left of yellow tree) and just as I took the picture this woman and her dog walked past and made it complete. Smiles all around.

We then heard the unmistakeable sound of a Solex tour.

Look how happy they are! Such a good idea.

Here’s a clip I filmed last summer when we got overtaken on our pushbikes by a tour. If you cycle north for 10 minutes from Z’s front door you arrive in the countryside. Didn’t manage it this time round, but there’s always the next trip.

After our long meal we needed to stretch our legs so we walked around this little inlet and admired the light catching on the lily pads.

A did some tree bonding too.

We then spent the evening on Z’s balcony and felt very pleased by the fact that we hadn’t even ventured into the city centre. I realised on the last trip to Amsterdam last August that I can’t keep up my usual tempo on city breaks anymore, and that maybe less is more after all.

So here’s to more balcony hangs in the future 🧡

Elsewhere and at other times

I’m the sort of person that goes to bed on holiday with the camera next to me, in case I wake up in the morning and see something I want to take a picture of. You never know what you might wake up seeing.

Z and D having a little early morning chat. We were surprisingly fast for four people to get out of the house and on our way.

Tourist pic time!

A managed to prop her phone up on Z’s bike so we could all be in the picture - in front of the windmill. Came out really good!

I wanted to repeat the perfect Sunday (on a Sunday again - nice!) so off we cycled to Het Schoolhuis in Holysloot for some lunch.

Got the best table in the garden. Thanks Z for the pic :0)

After lunch we picked out a scenic spot and meditated together. One of my favourite memories of the whole trip.

We then went for a little walk in the ‘hood. D & A spotted

this guy, before we did.

Time to cycle back into town.

This man caught my eye, and clocked me taking his pic, and I made sure I smiled at him, because that’s what a polite person does. Makes for a nice shared moment rather than being a picture taking robot that just continues on without acknowledging the other person involved.

Had to stop and take another picture on Haarlemmerstraat, this time of this building that looked heavily influenced by Alphonse Mucha.

See what happens when you smile and take pictures of strangers? You get smiled at back.

Walking through Westerpark this caught my eye. Kudos to anyone who bothers to bring a hammock to a park.

Our destination? Rainarai of course. We tried to dent the massive portions as much as we could, and delicious as usual it was too. I know it looks like A is ‘gramming’ here, but she isn’t. Not everyone carries a big camera innit.

And on the way home we had to stop and get off our bikes to look at the incredible full moon. Alas, this lady doesn't travel with a zoom, but take my word for it, it was huge.

On the Monday morning the peonies that Z had bought had opened up; I’ve never seen peonies this colour in the UK.

This was the day that we went to the Rijks, and moseying around the Jordaan afterwards we had a nosy in this empty house. Some jammy sod must’ve moved in there by now.

While we’re looking at houses, let’s look at some more. These are at the edge of the Red Light district, in fact just around the corner from Ons Lieve Heer.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been to Amsterdam by now, but I always do a little research before I go, and somewhere I came across pictures of this bar, In’t Aepjen. Amsterdam’s bruin cafés (pubs) have never really been on my radar before, but I remember walking past one that looked really cosy last time me and Oomoo where there (in fact the interior of it inspired me to get rid of our white walls at home), and thinking that I’d really like to go to one one day. Well, child free this time round we went, and lovely it was too. It was very small, but not packed and loud like a pub can be, and we tried some jenever for the first time, which gets served all the way to the top of the glass, like in the picture to the left. You then have to kind of bow into the glass to have your first sip. Fun!

D saying something… surprising/shocking? Whatever it was I missed out, but it was worth it. Love the reactions.

We only stayed for one drink, and this was what met us as we came out. ‘Hope for another life’ it says, according to Google Translate. Maybe that is what it says - but I don’t trust GT.

These guys obviously didn't stop at one drink. Maybe they were hoping for another life.

D, on the Eurostar, on the way home. So there you go, that was our girls’ trip to the Amsterdamsch, something we dreamt up last summer, when we saw A for the first time since all the lockdowns, and wanted to make up for lost time. Having this trip as something to look forward to, all the way back then, was invaluable. I hope we’ll do plenty more of them.