mesdag, who i had never heard of until this week, outdid himself with his panorama. of all the things i have seen on this trip — all the art, all the drama, all the cultural experiences — this has to be my top favorite. worth every euro cent it cost to get in (all 650 of them).

(i should note: admission is for the art museum, which allowed me to see mesdag’s many nautical paintings, all of which were impressive. but really, the main draw was the panorama.)

how do i convey it to you? is it even possible? imagine climbing a dark spiral staircase. at the top, a gleam of light falls on you, and you ascend through the little door. the world is bright, sunshiney, and fresh up there. you can hear the sounds of the sea. the air smells like sand. you come up off the staircase and find that you are in the middle of a round room, standing in a beachhouse turret, if you will, with a canopy of linen hanging from the roof (oooh i found a pic! see below. you would be standing in that tent area). and all around you — on every side of this round room, the walls are painted to look like a beach scene. real sand has been scattered on the floor so that you cannot see where the painting begins; the canopy reaches the roof and you cannot see where the art ends. you are, for all practical purposes, on a beach. there are fishing ships, there are bathhouses. as you turn from the beach, you see the scene of the town — horses and carriages, buildings, people.

the painting is 47.5 feet high, 374 feet around. it’s far, far bigger than i had imagined it would be. and it’s stunning. i wanted to inspect every detail, i wanted to zoom in on everything. i really cannot describe it. of course they don’t let you take pictures, but the mesdag panorama website has an excellent detail of the panorama.

if you have a bucket list, seeing this needs to be on it.