We were determined to see the famous Vermeer painting, the girl with the pearl earring. Our guide yesterday, Jan told us we could easily take the train to The Hague to the museum that has that painting as well as other Vermeers and Rembrandts. The Mauritshius is a small museum that has some of the finest 16th and 18 century master paintings in Europe. In addition we could see tulip fields along the train ride and perhaps have time to visit the fields.
We planned for a 9 am train from the Central station. We hopped on a streetcar marked “Central Station” around 8:30. A one day round trip on and off anywhere along the way cost about $28. The ticket salesperson printed out instructions so that we would change trains in Leiden to get to Hague Central. The whole trip took about 45 minutes.
We had bought tickets to the museum for 11am but we were pretty sure they wouldn’t be strict on time. So when we arrived at the museum at 10:15, we went inside and were sent directly to floor 2, room 16. There she was. There was a small railing to keep people at a distance but nothing like the Mona Lisa in a bulletproof box. There was painting on a wall with 2 smaller works, one on either side. She is certainly a mysterious beauty. There were 2 other Vermeers in the same room. Since there are only 36 known works by Vermeer it was an incredible thing to be in a room of 3. The landscape he did, one of 2 known, was every bit as luminous as the girl. Surrounded by paintings of other masters of the same period, it is hard to imagine why other artists painted such flat scenes when Vermeer had such light and perspective. I will need to ask an expert.
The rest of the museum had works by names I recognized from my art history class and some were unfamiliar. I particularly love the still life paintings of flowers with small insects and drops of water that look perfectly real.
Rembrandt’s works were also much more free style painting than others of his time. Perhaps I was attuned to style after seeing the Franz Hals show a few days ago.
We left the museum and walked into a beautiful sunny day. The trip back to the train led us through a large square that was filled with little restaurants. It was time for lunch. We marveled at the women in sleeveless tops as we sat bundled in sweaters and felt the occasional cold wind. These Danes are hearty folk!
Our return trip was planned to stop if possible to walk into tulip fields. Our guide had told us which stop to take. After we left the train, we asked how far it would be. Everyone speaks English so a young man suggested we take a bus. We took a bus going out of town and within minutes there were fields of tulips and hyacinths. We got off the bus and walked over recently turned earth to reach a large firld of tulips. Photo opportunities!! Then we walked back a short way to the hyacinths which were easy to find since the wind blew their scent to us. What a find!
We hoped to take the bus back to the train but it didn’t come according to schedule so we walked. It took two trains to get back to Amsterdam but the transfer took about 3 minutes. It was so very easy.
Finally we had planned for an Indonesian dinner with Deb and Barbara who arrived today. They actually showed up and loved the food despite being exhausted. Tomorrow we all go to the boat. We have had a very successful trip so far…more interesting stops await.
The Adventures of Anne 
Oh well, had you been a member of The Bruce when Girl With was there you could have joined me a viewing her close up and being the only person in the room!!!!! Your trip sounds absolutely wonderful.
Abby
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