Today was our first official day in one of the two capital of the Netherlands, Amsterdam. Our daily “adventures” only have us at a half day. HALLELUJAH! 🙏🏽We had a new tour guide today who took us to the Rijk Museum which hold Amsterdams most prize possession The Night Watch. But let me tell you, this museum was HUGE, and huge is an understatement. It’s easily comparable to the Smithsonian. 🙀

At this museum, we where told to choose one painting and to discuss it on the blog. You know, the usual. The painting I chose was Festoon of Fruits 🍑and Flowers 🌸by Jon Davidsz de Heem. It this painting you see very intricately painted fruits and flowers, but only from afar. Up close you see the fruit and flowers opened and exposed. They have been nipped and nibbled at bugs and flys exposing the inner colors and flesh like wounds. This painting was composed in or around 1683 by a sumptuous and Flemish still-life painter. You can see that all kinds of 🐜 (insect) life forms populate the festoon of both fruits and 🌺 (flowers).