31.5 What a lot of van Gogh

Thursday 31 van Gogh

The van Gogh museum is just up the road. We were surprised to learn that he didn’t start trying to paint until he was 25 and that he shot himself at 35 after suffering some sort of mental illness for 2 years.  And yes . . he chopped an ear off.  He studied art for some time and concentrated on drawing before he attempted colours. He was then influenced by the French impressionists and took their ideas a step further. Not all his work is “blotchy”. He hardly sold anything while he was alive and he was kept financially by his brother Theo, who died soon after him. Theo’s wife then inherited this large volume of odd paintings and was left wondering how to sell them. His work was highly regarded but nobody wanted to pay for it. The great bulk of his work is at the museum.

We could hardly go straight from there to Rembrandt and it was a bit drizzly so we welched out of museums. Amsterdam is a city of museums – the Rijksmuseum, a branch of the hermitage in St Petersburg, the WWII Resistance museum, the mediaeval torture museum and an erotic museum to name but a few. We had a nap instead.

We had been thinking a lot about the final 3 months of our year. Wandering round Asia or more cruising round the Med, Atlantic crossing with Queen Mary II, cruise the Alaskan fjords and cruise home? Or fly home from Beijing? Decisions decisions. Celebrity were selling 13 day balcony cruises like we just did for $999, which was very appealing, but suddenly today they re-appeared at $1450, which was less exciting. And Air Asia have dudded us by cancelling all their flights to Europe – the nearest now is Teheran (!) and then Alitalia to Rome. It is risky to depend on Air Asia to get you anywhere and very risky to string flights and cruises on the back of their flights. It’s not so bad drifting round Asia with them because you are not that far from home and nothing hinges on it.

We then had a mild panic when we looked more closely at tomorrows hotel in Kiel. It is a looong way from the port and the rail station and the shops. So we ended up booking another one and then trying to cancel the first one – strange that you can cancel free until 6pm on the day you were supposed to arrive. Most hotels want 48 hours notice. But we managed it eventually with some kind help from the lady on the reception desk.

And so to our last night in the dorm with the smelly bathroom. MSC isn’t that great but we are looking forward to it. We have been sharing with two young and rather scatty Canadians, and two Chinese engineers who have been doing doctoral research into sustainable energy at Copenhagen. Apparently the Professor there is a leading expert and has been doing stuff in NSW.