All I see

Last night had been almost an all-nighter. We'd passed a really nice game store while wandering around in Leeuwarden, and after a bit of discussion Matt and Dan bought a board game called "Starfarers of Catan," while Marnix and I bought some starter sets for the Lord of the Rings card game. Dan passed out on Marnix's bed for quite a while, during which time Matt showed me and Marnix how to play the Lord of the Rings game. Once Dan woke up that evening, we stayed up half of the night playing Starfarers. Anyone want to trade me an ore for food? How about for 2 foods? (^^;

Seeing as how it was our second day in Leeuwarden, however, Dan thought it would be good for us to get a bit more culture in, so we all went off to the Fries Museum. I've been to quite a few museums in Holland by now, and I've got to tell you, the Fries Museum was like nothing else I'd seen. It was split into 2 main sections, so we decided to wander through the right wing first.

At first things seemed quite normal. Large rooms with white walls and paintings/drawings hung on them. But then we started noticing little things. Like the little red devils draped over the security cameras in the corners. And items that seemed, well, out of place. There was a shoebox inside which we found wooden soles that had the world painted on them. It was, as Matt said, as though someone had just come in and left their artwork behind. We wandered through room after room, floor after floor of artwork and historical objects. On one floor was a small room set aside for the work of two young Frisian brothers (by young I mean maybe 10?). In the room there was a chest full of small drawers, filled with artwork that looked like what I used to make in kindergarten. How did these two boys get their work in a museum? We asked each other.

In another display room filled with glasses and plates, there was a bucket seemingly left forgotten in the back of the room filled with clear gloves that had been filled with water...

The other side of the museum was, if possible, almost stranger, though at the same time it solved an earlier puzzle for me. We walked back through the main lobby to the other side of the museum and down the stairs to a large, nearly empty room with what must have been hundreds of those same plastic gloves filled with water hanging suspended from paperclips attached to strings that ran across the ceiling. What a sight! And somewhat unnerving to walk under, after Matt pointed out that paperclips seemed to be the only thing holding the gloves up.

This side of the museum also had paintings and photographs, but also had video tapes of performance art some of which we couldn't quite puzzle out, some of which disgusted us (there was a girl who stuck her arm in a clear glass aquarium of sorts in order to get a leech to suck her blood). There was a room dedicated to Mata Hari and her extraordinary life. There was a squarish, plastic pool in the center of an area that was open all the way to the ceiling upon which floating about 5 different colored garbage bags that had been filled with some sort of foam pieces. Yes, this too was supposed to be art. My absolute favorite, however, was the little room in which sat a harpsichord. It didn't seem like much. Wood paneled walls, what I (perhaps ignorantly) would call Victorian carpeting on the floor and a small fireplace. At first I hadn't realized what it was, and we walked out pretty much right after we walked into the room. I was almost out of the room when I heard a note coming from the harpsichord and almost bolted out of the room. After a few more notes were played, however, my curiosity got the better of me, and I went back. Matt and Dan were walking around on the carpet announcing they hadn't touched anything when the harpsichord had started playing. Matt shortly spied some cables running under the carpet, and then Dan found a sort of playing card telling you where to step on the carpet in order to play Bach's something or other (sorry, I forget), and it all fell into place. We spent the next 20 minutes or so hopping about on the carpet trying to play the piece correctly. At long last! I had found someplace where I could play Dance Dance Revolution©! (^^)

We spent the entire day in the Fries museum, actually. And I'd say we more than got our money's worth. We wandered home early enough to drive Marnix to work, and then went out to eat at Las Tapas. I, as always, had a wonderful meal there (there's quite a bit to choose from the veggie menu) and before I knew it, it was nearly time to go pick up Marnix from work again. Come on, everybody! Let's all pile into the Ka. (^^)