Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Entry #187

{summary} We just got back from Amsterdam!!! Yes, you should go there if you have the chance. Most of the people ride around on bikes and a lot of the cars are really small like Coopers. The Dutch are pretty fashionable and serious looking. I guess that I come from a fairly smiley place (California) and I've learned living in NYC to keep the smiles to a minimum while walking around. This came in handy in Amsterdam; I put on my very bored and serious expression for those moments where Dutch people might have been looking my way. We walked around the first two days and had a great time. By the end of the second day my feet had run out of rubber on the soles and we found a bike rental for the rest of our time there. Bikes are definitely the best way to get around, just like at Burning Man. We went to the Van Gogh museum and learned more about him. He really wanted to be successful and he worked really hard to make it. His brother Theo supported him and sold only one of Vincent's paintings while Vincent was alive. He actually learned to paint and painted for about ten years before he shot himself in the chest and died two days later with his brother by his side. His brother died six months later and was buried next to Vincent. His brother's wife spent her life working on getting Van Gogh's work known after the brothers died. I guess one of the lessons here is that when you have a calling to create art or beauty, just create it and do your very best to get it to people but don't let the lack of success drive you to the grave. I do understand this. Vincent painted differently to try to be more appealing and sell his work. We also ate alot of delicious food! I'll write more about our trip later, just wanted to fill you in and say hey! Jessica {extended}

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