Maison Van Gogh

For our second day of sightseeing in Belgium the girls and I decided on a slower day.  We spent part of the morning watching TV and then walked across the street to the BX to look around a little.  We even stopped at the thrift store on base; Madison and Emily both found cute new to them bags.

After lunch in our hotel room we set out for the actual sightseeing part of the day, a visit to a house where Van Gogh once lived.  Most of us weren't really that excited about seeing the Maison Van Gogh, but Abigail loves art and she especially loves art by Van Gogh.  Thanks to our trusty GPS we were able to find the tiny little house at the end of a skinny little country lane.

Abigail refused to look at me so I could take a picture; she was too busy reading all about crazy Vincent
Outside the house there was a path with information about the life of Van Gogh, why he was living in Belgium, and the restoration of the house that's taken place over the last thirty years.  I did learn things I didn't know before - I think the fact that Van Gogh was a little cuckoo and cut of part of an ear tends to overshadow everything else.  For example, I had no idea until our visit that Van Gogh was a very religious man who didn't seriously start his work as an artist until later in life.  


After we read all the information about Van Gogh outside of the house, we went inside.  The house itself was quite small and I had no idea how it was still standing.  The building was leaning in the strangest way, not from one side to another, but from front to back like it was trying to do the limbo.  Once inside the house, the very silent tour guide (seriously, he only gestured the entire time.  Emily felt he was very creepy) led us into a front room where we watched a movie on the life and work of Van Gogh.  Then we went into the other front room and were able to look at some more information about Van Gogh, the house and the reason he was living there, as well as see an original drawing by Van Gogh himself.

Here's our artist outside the one-time home of her favorite artist
 Abigial, I think, thoroughly enjoyed herself while everyone else was ready to go almost as soon as we got there.  I'm glad that we were able to go and see the "one thing" that Abigail wanted to see in all of Belgium.

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