Off to "Den Haag" ("The Hague"

Well, today is a rainy day - the first we've had - so it's a perfect day to take a train to The Hague (or "Den Haag" as they call it - I love that name in Dutch!) and go to a museum. The museum there has 3 Vermeers (there are only 35 in the whole world), including the famous "Girl with the Pearl Earring."

Yesterday we went to the Rijksmuseum and saw their amazing collection: Rembrandts (and other masterpieces) everywhere you turn around, including his famous "Nightwatch." They ahd have 4 Vermeers there, but one is loaned out to Tokyo, and one is on loan to the Van Gogh Museum(?).

We went to the van Gogh Museum. It is also amazing - they have 200 of his paintings, so you can see at one place the development of his art. It's very interesting that his earlier works do not look at all like the van Gogh's we are all familiar with. There are a lot of landscapes and portraits, all pretty dull and boring. And then "Boom!" he discovers color and lines, and begins to paint all the wonderful paintings we know. He died at 37 - shot himself - thinking he was a total failure. Incredible. There was also that Vermeer in the basement as part of a collection of 125 years of Dutch art that has been bought by the people of Holland.

Then in the afternoon I had my "float" in a sensory deprivation tank. For a hour you float in this tank filled with very salty water that has a lot of oils and minerals in it al well. You can't sink. It took some getting used to, but when I finally did, it was very relaxing. I didn't fall asleep, just sort of drifted off into a semi-dreamlike state. It was wonderful.

Then I had a 60 minute massage, which was also wonderful. If I could only hang on to how I felt after those 2 hours! Unfortunately, 2 hours later, my back was hurting again.

We had dinner at a very trandy restaurant called Envy - multiple courses of "small plates" - the latest thing. Wonderful food and service. We also sat next to an Israeli couple who had brought their dog (a toy poodle) to the restaurant, so we had a lot of fun with him - and them. They were very interesting people to talk to, and the dog ("Zuta") was better behaved than most children.

Well, time to head off to Den Haag.