Tuesday, March 12, 2024
This morning we slept in quite a bit. Everyone is tired. It was kind of a restless night. Ian woke up with terrible asthma. Betty had a nightmare and isn’t feeling well. I was going to take just the bigger kids to see Amsterdam and the Rijksmuseum so Betty could rest, but then Betty decided to come. Veroniek made a delicious lunch for us. Sandwiches and veggies. She has been a wonderful host.
The trip to Amsterdam includes about a half mile walk to the bus station, a 20 min bus to Utrecht Centraal train station, and 45 min train to Amsterdam. Fortunately for us, the ticket machine on the bus was broken, so we got a free ride.
At the train station we were in a big hurry to catch our train. Alicia told me it was a bad idea to rush, but I didn’t listen to her. Turns out she was right because instead of getting us on the train to Amsterdam, I got us on the train to Amersfoort. That was dumb and lost us just about a half hour or 45 min.
Thankfully there was another direct train from Amersfoort to Amsterdam. From there it was a tram ride to the Rijksmuseum.
This museum is not overly huge, but it has some real gems. In particular, it’s got a ton of Rembrandt, who is probably my favorite artist that I know almost nothing about. It was great to get to know him better here. Of course the piece de resistance is The Night Watch, but there were so many other good ones. I love his self-portraits. This museum also has three Vermeer’s and a famous self-portrait of Van Gogh.
Unfortunately, the kids and Betty were totally wiped out. I had figured that with a total day of rest Monday and pretty light day of travel Tuesday they would have more energy, but they were just sacked. After the Rembrandt and Vermeer stuff we knew it was time to get home, but before that we wanted to see the Van Gogh. Betty was asking me why Van Gogh is such a big deal, so I showed her and the kids this clip, which describes it better than I ever could.
After that the museum was ready to close, so we headed back it was a beautiful walk through the city. It’s definitely got a unique personality. I loved it. Our final stop was the Anne Frank house. Alicia read her diary this past year in school, so it was cool for her to see the house.
Walking from there to the train station we had a good chat about sacred space. What makes a place sacred? I taught the kids a bit about what Mircea Eliade writes in The Sacred and the Profane.
The regular old everyday world is what he calls profane space. It’s like a sheet that spreads out in all directions. But every once in a while, something divine pokes through that sheet and opens up a door to the spiritual. Where that tear in the fabric takes place, that’s what we call sacred space. Very often we build a church or monument there. And often the divine is manifest in the midst of tragedy. That’s why places like the beaches of Normandy or the Anne Frank house are sacred today.
At least, that’s one way to think of it.
This was a good day.