Last night, I broke up my meeting early (they were as sick of hearing me talk as I was of talking) and started toward the city center for a little walk. I was surprised to find myself at the Museumplein by 4:30 – 90 minutes before closing time at the Rijksmuseum, plenty of time to take in some Old Masters.

The Rijksmuseum is a handsome brick building, reinforcing my idea of Amsterdam as a huge university campus. It was under construction, unfortunately, but they had moved all the best pieces to a single wing. Normally I would have been disappointed, but a pre-edited collection was perfect for a short trip.

As a result I got to see several amazing works in a concentrated period, the highlight of course being paintings by Rembrandt and his pupils. The way they captured skin tone and texture was just astounding. The place was fairly empty, so I got to indulge my preference for standing very close to the paintings, and to the placards that describe the paintings (not because I need to see them in detail, but because the letters are so tiny). As word-oriented as I am, I find I can’t enjoy the painting until I’ve read the description. Sometimes I try to force myself to experience the painting first, to make my own guesses and judgments about it…but my eye always goes to the text. (Similarly, when I’m in the car and a new song comes on the satellite radio, I always glance at the receiver to read the artist and title. The habit persists even when I’m in the car with the AM/FM radio, even as I’m silently telling myself there’s no text there, idiot. It’s like I think they’re going to magically start broadcasting that information.)

Anyway, they kept ringing the bell to warn of the imminent closing time, and as I was making my way to the entrance I stumbled upon Night Watch. I hadn’t realized it was there, because I wasn’t able to read the floor plan (it was in English, but the letters were so small I didn’t bother). I had studied Night Watch in school and had always assumed it depicted a military scene. Turns out (this is why you should read the placard!) it was a vanity production for the local “militia club,” wealthy men who paid for the privilege of modeling. The more you paid, the more prominent your spot. Facing Night Watch was a similar grouping, of men even more gorgeously attired. I’m picturing the 16th-century equivalent of Rotarians commissioning a famous photographer for a cool picture.

I thought that the long walk to the museum and the fresh air would tire me out, relax me, but when I got back to the hotel I found that for the fourth night in a row, I couldn’t sleep. The first night I had picked up a book, because that always works at home, but I ended up staying awake until I finished it at 3:00 a.m. After that I just watched TV.

What’s on Dutch TV at midnight?

  • 1. Old reruns of Conan O’Brian on MSNBC/Europe. Last night, they showed him interviewing Quentin Tarantino. Boy, Quentin Tarantino is quite the misogynist asshole. If I ever saw him at a party I’d run screaming from the room, although I’m sure he wouldn’t trouble me because he seeks out the “drunken supermodel” type, by his own admission.
  • 2. Reruns of news on CNN/Europe. What a dull channel that is. They never seem to have any up-to-date coverage, and the only thing they get excited about is the business report. I kind of like Richard Quest, but he’s no Anderson Cooper.
  • 3. Reruns of Olympic coverage on Eurosport, blessedly free of the sentimental “up close and personal” angle of the US network coverage. Have you seen this new sport, “boardercross”? Four snowboarders go head-to-head on a twisty, bumpy course. It looks like a blast.

    • Incidentally, the Korean adoption boards are abuzz with the news that a Korean adoptee, Toby Dawson, medaled in moguls. (Pardon my use of the noun-as-verb construction “medaled.” I absorbed it inadvertently from watching all that Eurosport.) He is hoping that the media attention will lead his birth parents to contact him. He even gave his referral picture to NBC to post on their web site. I teared up when I saw the little boy with his K-number. We have moved up to number six on the wait list–very slow progress, two places in six weeks!–and I am hoping to see our own referral picture any day now.

    Toward that end, my other late-night time-killing activity has been surfing the adoption boards for referral news. I will be glad to be back on US time so I can do this during business hours. And I cannot wait to return to my regularly scheduled sleeping program. I have so many floaters in my eyes that I feel like I’m walking through clouds of gnats.