Oh Vincent!  yes, Van Gogh.  We went to the museum which is featuring a new special collection (closing Sept. 25th) called “On the Verge of Insanity.”  It chronicles the last 18 months of Van Gogh’s life, including the famous ear episode and his moving in and out of asylums.  The audio tour quotes Van Gogh often and so effectively.  In his last days he painted 75 works!  On display was the unfinished, seemingly optimistic,  work which was on his easel the day he shot himself in the wheat fields. the exhibition closes with a time line of all the various diagnosis he had gotten even up to 200 where they declared him to have suffered from borderline personality disorder.

To say I enjoyed the museum would be a complete understatement.  It was stunning, educational, emotional and beautiful.  We saw The Irises, The Sunflowers, The bedroom, some landscapes  and many self portraits.  We saw the colors. There were great insights, through the audio tour, on his process and how his technique evolved over time.  They had a microscope set up, projecting on a wall so you could see just how thick and still how deliberate each paint stroke was.  I really recommend the audio tour here!

I have no photos today.  🙁  When we were walking to the museum it seem like it was just about to rain (it’s decidedly cooler today)  so we were rushing there.  And we rushed home because Ken’s back was really bothering him and he needed to lie down.  I gave him a muscle relaxer that caused him to take a long nap.  So, I went out to the market and bought stuff to make chicken vegetable soup.  I love that feeling of walking down the street with my shopping bags as if I really live here!

The soup turned out to be enough for at least 2 nights or maybe 3 and that’s great for us.  We enjoyed it with some nice bread and a bottle of red Spanish wine the owners left for us here.

Our evening walk was looking for a coffeeshop.  I had done some research and knew which ones we wanted to try.  “Older crowd, mellow vibe..”  But, we made a wrong turn somewhere (no data plan on our phones)  and didn’t find those two.  Determined as we were not to miss this chance, we stopped into one we just saw.  Hulp 1.  We didn’t love it because they played loud angry rap music and there was just on little hot room to hang in.  But we did it.  Got our badge and it was totally fun although I was really afraid of the bicycles walking home.

Sorry for the no pictures.  Will do better tomorrow.