Amsterdam, Netherlands: August 15, 2005
10/13/2020
Travel
Today I went to the Torture Museum. I was expecting to see more inhumane instruments of torture, but the explanations and pictures of what was there was good, although I do not think it captured the true essence of the torture that was endured and performed during times of inhumanity. Some of the tools were used to extract a confession, rather than inflicting severe harm (total euphemism I know).
From there I went to the Rijksmuseum to look at various Rembrandt pieces. In one of his paintings so much paint was applied, that the thickness allowed light to reflect off of it, giving it more dimension and color. Could this have been the early precedent of impressionistic art?
This evening I went to the concert house and watched an orchestra perform Mozart, Schubert, and Hayden. Phenomenal. During a couple of the pieces there was a solo violinist. The overall performance seemed as if the soloist was musically conversing with the rest of the orchestra. It worked in three phases. The conversing between the soloist and the orchestra occurred when: 1) the orchestra would mimic the soloist's melody, 2) both the soloist and the orchestra played in unison, and 3) the soloist would play variations of the melody/chorus or something different as the orchestra played the background music. The orchestra complimented the soloist and in return the soloist did not grand-stand, but simply mesmerized the audience with her skill, precision, and evident display of emotion.
A cultural difference I noticed while at the concert was the audience would time their sneezing, coughing, and readjustments to the completion of a piece-the natural pause. Furthermore, the audience did not applaud after the completion of every piece. Rather, they saved their applause until all pieces in a specific set were finished-the rewarded the orchestra, conductor, and when appropriate the soloist, with an exaggerated and prolonged and borderline grandiose type applause.
Cultural Differences
Uses the Euro. 1 Euro equals about .69 cents
endorse/embrace bongs (sell them) and marijuana
immediate willingness to help
during classical music concerts the audience coughed, sneezed, etc at the end of a piece and then clapped at the very end as opposed to after every piece
more women are security guards
overall cultural difference: more interracial dating
