mardi 12 février 2008

day 3: Van Gogh and the largest film archive in the Netherlands

DAY 3

Woke up feeling refreshed and hungry. Keisha said she saw some restaurants advertising English Breakfast, and that sounded so good. We went into one, but they stopped serving English breakfast at noon, and it was half noon. The waitress was really sorry. No worries, we got some omelets and mint tea and shared a dutch apple pancake which I forgot to take a picture of! The mint tea was excellent.

The waitress brought out this thick syrup that's not as sweet as maple and powdered sugar for the pancake--heaven. I loved it. I love it more than American pancakes. It was thicker than a crepe, but thinner than an American pancake. The waitress kept coming back and making sure everything was good. She seemed eager to please.

Walked to the Van Gogh museum and saw it seemed like a billion amazing paintings. Really neat. Unfortunately I couldn't take photos. Then to the Rijks Museum which is a history museum featuring masterpieces from the Dutch Golden Age. By then it was late afternoon so we got some food and went home to rest before the Film Museum.

Walked literally down the street and into the park, and to our right was the Netherland's largest film archive. It looks like a huge mansion sitting in front of a lake, really lovely. I went online beforehand in Paris to see what they're showing, and it's 12 Angry Men and To Kill A Mockingbird. We got tickets for the second film.

The film was in its original version with subtitles in Dutch. The titles were a little late, so when we laughed at something said, the Dutch people laughed a few seconds later. I love this film, a classic. It moved me now, and it moved me 10 something years ago when Dad rented it on laserdisc. It made me want to make something beautiful and classical with a message that would affect the children that watched it and the adults they would become. Easier said than done though.

It was cool to do something that Dutch people would do, just to be in the company of them and not tourists like ourselves. Keisha lost her scarf in the theater, but one of the ushers had found it and it was at the cashier. How lovely. A cool way to end the night.