Arty farty

Today I mainly did art. I was briefly tempted by the Bols cocktail museum, but by the time I'd spent the best part of 3 hours with Vincent Van Gogh it was too late.

On waking this morning my legs ached like I'd walked about 12 miles. Oh wait, I did! So today I took it a little easier and with some museum wandering and less yomping I only covered about 9. I headed up to Overtoom not far from here, and walked through Vondelpark (which reminded me of Clapham Common except with water, because of the interesting mix of folk to be found - some jogging, some sunning themselves or walking their dogs, some imbibing and shouting at each other).

I even saw a heron on my return trip, wandering around on the grass. Maybe he thought he was a peacock.

A found tree in the park for attaching lost property - so many keys!!

After a cheap junk breakfast of coffee and stroopwafel (if I don't cut down on carbs I'm going to explode) by way of contrast I wandered down a parade of shops to rival Bond Street, including Gucci, Prada, Burberry, Jimmy Choo, Vuitton, Bvulgari...and our very own Karen Millen and Paul Smith. I then took myself into the modern art (Stedelijk) musuem which is a lovely building with a shiny new wing attached to a classic style museum, but I was a bit disappointed in the exhibits. The design elements of the last century were really well covered, including some lovely pieces by Arne Jacobsen whose work I'd also seen in Ghent. There was also a great exhibition of (for want of a better word) the Zero school of the 60s and 70s who were inspired by the space race and my notions of light, dark, black and white. Here's a couple of selfies, though I'm hard to spot in the second one.

And I loved this little installation

and also this massive piece (about 20 x 10 feet) composed entirely of bags of water filled to precise levels - but they looked like jewels and I was very taken with it (it's how I roll)

However, when I finally found where they'd hidden the paintings, it turned out that loads (pre 1960s) were missing as half a floor was closed - no mention when I went in (staff were a but uppity here), and no reduction in admission price which at a hefty 15euros made me feel a bit cheated.

After a reasonably healthy lunch (there was salad involved, and elderflower cordial), I took my prepaid ticket and skipped ahead of the queue for the Van Gogh museum, which was 22 euros including the multimedia guide (a very good one, if a trifle patronising in places) and very worthwhile.

It was very busy but well-organised (with the exception of one room which was the narrowest and had all the little stuff in it like letters - why?!) I got a good look at most things and though there were a few favourites missing (what's the starry starry night one called?) I really felt I understood his life and work far better than before. I'm hoping to visit Arles when I go to Avignon last month. And Sunflowers was there - did you know there were 5 versions?

After an excellent afternoon, I wandered through the lovely gardens of the Rijksmuseum and as an added free bonus on Art Day there were a load of Miro sculptures dotted around

Went for a beer, finished To Kill a Mockingbird (yep, got through 56 years and an English degree and never read it before) and then walked back through the park intending to be frugal and buy good to go food from the local Ecomarkt or whatever it's called, only to discover that they had nothing that would go in a microwave. I panicked and went for a pizza which was fairly awful and I am now sitting with a distended stomach full of carbohydrate junk and self-loathing.

As penance, I'm getting up mega early to go to a 7am hot yoga class just round the corner - and I will then pack up Nellie and catch a train to Berlin, where I am to rendezvous with the lovely trio of David Carr, Steve Johnson and Rick Johns at Cafe Eckstein in the Schoneberg area of Berlin for the weekend - yay!