The Bruner Family Journey: September 2012

Helene Kröller-Müller (1869-1939) was an avid art collector and one of the first to recognize the genius of Vincent van Gogh. And if you exclude royalty like Catherine the Great, she was one of the first women in Europe to establish a major art museum. Much like Isabella Stewart Gardner in Boston, she was a wealthy, proud and ambitious woman who was determined to leave a lasting cultural legacy. Thankfully for us, she donated her extensive collection of early modern art to the Netherlands in 1935. Located in an expansive nature reserve with deer, foxes, badgers and wild boar, the Kröller-Müller Museum is home to the world's largest private collection of Van Goghs and one of Europe's biggest sculpture gardens. The museum's grounds and setting are said to reflect Helene's conception of connecting art, architecture and nature. The kids especially liked the large black-and-white sculpture by Jean DuBuffet made of painted concrete and epoxy resin. It's a whimsical artistic garden, surrounded by a real garden of grass, trees and ponds – a garden within a garden so to speak. And you get to climb on it!

The Sower, Vincent van Gogh (photo taken from the internet)

As we pulled out of the museum parking lot in the late afternoon, the idea was to head to the city of Utrecht, only 50 minutes way, to find a hotel for the night. Utrecht has the country's largest university and for many centuries it was a center of Dutch secular and religious power, until it was overtaken by Amsterdam during Holland's Golden Age in the 1600s. Unfortunately, we didn't realize Utrecht is also known for its annual "Summer Darkness" festival, which bills itself as a "a dark underground inter-disciplinary festival" (I like festivals that cover multiple disciplines), with bands offering "neo-folk," "darkwave," "future-pop," "synth-pop," "industrial," "witch-house," and many other of my favorite musical styles. Suffice it so say that all the city's hotel rooms were occupied by people dressed in the height of "Goth" fashion with plenty of black makeup. So, we parked the car at one of the most ridiculously expensive meters I've ever had the pleasure of using (4.55 Euros per hour), walked around the pretty canals, admired the Gothic spire of St. Martin's Cathedral, ate some delicious Greek food, and then got back in the car and drove to Amsterdam, a night ahead of our reservation.

St. Martin's Cathedral

The Mauritshaus

I'll cover Amsterdam in my next post, but there's still one more place in The Netherlands – The Hague – that I want to cover in this one. Our journey to The Hague (as a day trip by train from Amsterdam) was inspired by two equally important missions. First, the Mauritshuis – with its three paintings by Vermeer, its 11 Rembrants (including The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp), and its exquisite Goldfinch by Carel Fabritius – is one of my favorite small art museums in the world. (Holland excels in that category, with the Kröller-Müller, the Rembrandthuis and Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, and the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem - to name a few.)

Vermeer, View of Delft (photo taken from the internet)

Rembrandt, Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp (photo taken from the internet)

Carel Fabritius, The Goldfinch (photo taken from the internet)

In addition to a great museum, The Hague has plenty of charm

Second, Madurodam – which depicts a typical Dutch town on a 1:25 scale – is one of my children's favorite miniature cities in the world. (Ok, they've only seen two.) So, they were forced to endure the first, and then Eden and I were forced to endure the second. But I jest – we all enjoyed all our endeavors in The Hague, which retains quite a bit of charm even despite its status one of Europe's bureaucratic centers.

See in you in the last destination of our yearlong journey - Amsterdam, the Venice of the North!

More from the Kröller Müller Museum

More photos from Utrecht

Stairway to Heaven Nightclub and Restaurant

View of Utrecht after a couple of minutes in the Stairway to Heaven Nightclub and Restaurant

More photos from The Hague

In big shoes, in a miniature city

Wismar may be more charming and historically pristine, and Stralsund may be a wilder and more adventurous destination, but Lübeck is the queen of the Hansa. In terms of the sheer number of visually stunning buildings, Lübeck takes the 12th century Hanseatic cake. The city suffered some big hits in World War II, but countless old lanes, alleyways and courtyards still remain, with more than 1,000 historic landmarks if you're counting. The city's old quarter sits on an island in the Trave River, so pick your bridge, walk half-way out, and start taking pictures! Our main activity consisted of walking aimlessly through town, although we did spend an hour in the Behnhaus Museum perusing the small but excellent collection of German Romantic paintings and the extensive temporary exhibit of works by Edvard Munch, who lived and worked in Lübeck for a few years. We also made time to play soccer and ping pong (there was an outdoor table at the hostel where we stayed), and I seem to recall some serious pigeon chasing as well. Overall, we were very impressed by the Hanseatic trio of Lübeck, Stralsund and Wismar - a trip to these places defeats the myth I've heard that the tourist sights in northern Germany are inferior to those of the south.

Sad spire of St. Nikolai

From Lübeck, it was short drive to the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. Hamburg was heavily bombed during World War II, so only a small portion of its historic architecture remains. The city has grown tremendously since its Hanseatic days and is now Europe's third largest port and Germany's second largest city. It's an affluent and dynamic place, with plenty of open air opportunities for eating and drinking (at least in summer), a diverse population with immigrants from countries that span the globe, cultural events galore, and a vibrant alternative scene. One of the city's landmarks is the towering neo-Gothic spire of Saint Nikolai's Church, which was the tallest building in the world for a brief stint in the 1870s. Pretty much everything but the spire was flattened in World War II and the church now lay in ruins. Surrounded by modern office buildings, the spire stands as a poignant memorial. The kids didn't quite grasp the heaviness of the place as they played among the old ruins and solemn modern statues.

Evening in the Speicherstadt

Another distinctive feature of the city is the Speicherstadt, or warehouse district, which was built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Gothic revival red-brick architecture is perhaps a bit severe, especially in the evening when all the people vanish after the close of business, but it's unlike anything I've ever seen before. The buildings are still used as warehouses, and in 2005 they apparently handled one third of the world's carpet production.

Between the outdoor attractions and the mandatory German wine tasting in front of the Town Hall, we had time only for two of Hamburg's many renowned art museums - the Kunsthalle (featuring an exhibit of drawings entitled "Bruegel, Rembrandt & Co."), and the Kunstmeile (featuring an exhibit of paintings by J.M.W. Turner). Apparently, "kunst" is German for art. The Kunsthalle contains a classic painting of 19th century German Romanticism (Caspar David Friedrich's The Wanderer Above the Sea and Fog) that I'd written a paper on in college.

Enjoying some wine in front of Hamburg's Town Hall

Caspar David Friedrich, The Wanderer Above the Sea and Fog (taken from the internet)

Youthful joy among the somber ruins of St. Nikolai

The Marketplatz in Bremen

After Hamburg, we had our eye on The Netherlands, the final destination of our year-long adventure. But we made two more Hanseatic stops in Germany. First was Bremen, where we started our tour at the main square in town (the Marktplatz), which is dominated by the opulent façade of the city's Town Hall. We also walked down the Böttcherstrasse, a tiny street that was transformed in the 1920s into a showcase for what has been termed "Brick Expressionism," a unique and unusual architectural style that combines elements of Hanseatic, neo-Gothic, Art Nouveau and Art Deco. The Nazis were not impressed and denounced the street as an example of "degenerate art." While the kids finished lunch, I also took a quick peek at the nearby Schnoor quarter, the oldest part of the city, where fisherman, craftsman and traders once sold their wares. Although the area was not bombed during World War II, it was in a state of utter disrepair by the mid-1950s. Having been extensively renovated, it's now filled with shops, restaurants and tourists.

About to enter the Böttcherstrasse

Talia with one of her many stuffed animals

Back at the Marketplatz

Town Hall

Our final stop in Germany was Münster, a lively university town that is known to history geeks as the place where the Treaty of Westphalia was signed in 1648 to end the Thirty Years War. Much of the city was destroyed during World War II, but there are several extremely impressive groupings of old buildings that remain (or were rebuilt after the War). Münster also boasts an impressive number of bicycles. Throughout Germany, cities have made a considerable effort to go green and one notable feature is the ubiquitous, wide bicycle lanes that fill the urban streetscape. This effort has reached a crescendo in Münster, which is known as Germany's "Bicycle Capital." According to the city's website, there is now more bicycle traffic than car traffic. It was a great place to end the German part of our journey, and the kids were particularly excited at the excellent Thai-Vietnamese nouvelle-fusion dinner on our last night in the country.