Thoughts on Europe

January 2018 e-mail

Bought our tix today for Europe: May 25 - June 25. Italy 14 days, Paris 9 days, 1 day Luxemborg, 5 days in Amsterdam. Flying Asheville to Florence, Amsterdam to Asheville. Have agenda in Italy loosely planned out, but have to make final decisions in coming weeks - rooms, tours, train tix, etc..  

Eating well and varied is at the heart of this journey, as is people watching, exploring neighborhoods and finding great spots for photos. Will do some touristy things, of course, but in a relaxed manner.

Monet the person intrigues me.  I know the gardens would be beautiful, but who he was, how he lived and what inspired him appeals to me as much as anything - same for eccentrics like Tolstoy or my Uncle Watty!!!!

Rembrandts

We saw some Rembrandts in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.  Catherine the Great sent her agents all over Europe to buy up Rembrandt art when he had fallen out of favor for a period.  Smart lady.  St. Petersburg and Amsterdam have close ties, and Peter the Great designed St. Petersburg, his new capital, after Amsterdam, but on a larger scale.

There's a branch of Russia's Hermitage in Amsterdam.  We did not go to it.  Peter the Great spent 4 months in Amsterdam in his twenties, and one home he stayed in is a museum.  - e-mail I sent to my brother who was interested in Rembrandt art in Great Britain 

Click here for more of Peter the Great's connection to Amsterdam.

“For any collector of Rembrandt, Russia is pretty close to Mecca,” says Thomas Kaplan, the owner of the largest number of paintings by the Dutch master in private hands.  - article

Kade is viewing Rembrandt's Night Watch in Amsterdam on June 24, 2018.

Florence, Arrival Day

Florence, Day 1