Hanging with Van Gogh, a Panbo stretch
OK, watch me spin Vincent Van Gogh’s Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saintes-Maries into an electronics entry. You see I spent the afternoon getting to know the neighborhood around my B&B, which included a inspiring visit to the Van Gogh Museum. Later I was a bit surprised to find that the Museum’s fine site does not have images of his paintings, but instead links to the work of a passionate Van Gogh enthusiast. That’s what I’m talking about in regard to boating POIs; there’s got to be better ways to electronically share the exploratory work of enthusiastic cruisers. And, by the way, the placard that goes with the painting—which, of course, is much more vivid in reality—notes that Van Gogh thought these boats as beautiful as flowers, and that’s saying something.
On a totally different note, though equally abstract, are Amsterdam’s pedestrian walk lights. When you push the button, you hear a clicking noise, not obnoxious, but loud enough that you know the thing is working. Then, when the walk sign goes green, the clicking increases, terrific for vision disabled folks like my mom (trying to get around NYC). It goes into my file of interface nuances that really work.
