Although the museums reopened after a few weeks of lock down, it is still quite an enterprise to enjoy the ones in other towns and cities. I have a railway card, a season ticket which I paid for and which includes 10 days of almost free unlimited day travel a year. Because of all the restrictions since March, I had hardly been able to make use of my card. The same applies to my museum card. There are many interesting exhibitions, planned long before this disastrous year for the Arts, and I would love to see some of them. The method is to book immediately the museums are open, as only online tickets with a time slot are valid, even if the entrance is free with a season ticket.
There is a
very interesting exhibition of paintings by a well-known Dutch artist, Henk Helmantel in the Drents Museum
in Assen, a train ride of almost 2,5 hours from where I live. In order to get my daily dose of exercise I
walked to the station, a 35 minute walk, bringing my packed lunch, a ryebread
sandwich with cheese. Of course, one can’t eat nor drink anything on the train
as mouth masks are compulsory at all times on public transport. A friend joined
me in Amsterdam. Once arrived at Assen, our destination, we bought
a take-away coffee at a stall. Although normally there are tables and chairs,
all restaurants and café s are closed, which means we were not allowed to sit
down except on a public bench outside to drink our coffee. In November this
isn’t always an inviting idea, so we drank our coffee on the hoof, out of
necessity, knowing that the very attractive museum café with its delicious
cakes and sandwiches, would also be closed. Fortunately the powder rooms were
open!Bartje, a character from a well-known childrens book, standing in front of the museum, corona proof!
At least the exhibition was well worth the effort and discomfort. Besides, there were some health benefits as well as I had taken over 14.000 steps, and done almost 10 km’s, not at all bad.
In spite of the limitations, it was a day well spent.