Mauritshuis

 On to the Mauritshuis to see the newly remodeled place with all of their gems on display.  We couldn’t have timed this trip to the Netherlands better as the Rijksmuseum just reopened after extensive renovation and now this one opened one week before we came.  The only complaints we have about this

 museum is its incredible price and very congested layout.  I know that it’s in a historical house and that is part of its charm, but you can’t get a good look at some of these paintings because there are 10 in a room that is maybe 8 by 8 and you are in there with 15 other 

  people.  That doesn’t take into account all the people just standing there in front of a masterpiece punching numbers into their smart phones to hear the audio commentary, but at least there were no tours in the time that we were there.  We also had some one on one time with the

Girl with a Pearl Earring without anyone around us for about 5 minutes.  Where the Mona Lisa will disappoint you, this painting (while as small or smaller than the Mona Lisa) did not disappoint.  She was truly luminous and no picture does

  justice to the points of light that Vermeer somehow put on her lips, her earring, her eyes.  There were plenty of other great paintings by Rembrandt, and my new favorite painter of still lives, Claesz.  When you are in the Netherlands, you get the full perspective   of how many great still lives he did and how amazingly lifelike they are.  He has

 the same touch with light as Vermeer and you really believe that you could get the drop of juice off that lemon that has been peeled.  AWESOME!!!  The good thing about a museum being confined to a house in the early 1600’s, it doesn’t take long and we were able to amble about the Hague historic district on our way to our hotel.