Travelsmartplanet

In 1839, composer  Richard Wagner was a conductor at the Court Theatre in Riga, Latvia. His extravagant lifestyle and his wife Minna’s retirement from the stage led him to run up huge debts. He devised a plan to flee his creditors by escaping to Paris (via London) where he could make some money by getting Rienzi performed at the Paris Opéra.

Unfortunately, his plan turned to disaster when his passport was seized by the authorities on behalf of his creditors. Undeterred, he and Minna made a dangerous and illegal crossing over the Prussian border, during which Minna suffered a miscarriage. A ship’s (Thetis) captain agreed to take them without passports. Traveling through storms (the ship at one point took refuge in the Norwegian fjords at Tvedestrand), the 8-day trip plunked them in London 3 weeks after leaving Riga.

If you like Art Nouveau buildings, Riga, Latvia has over 600 examples. Following the design style laid out by Victor Horta of Belgium, this last decorative style done up here in 1903/1904 is full of garlands, female faces, wrought iron and stained glass.

Mikhail Osipovich Eisenstein, who graduated from the Institute of Civic Engineering in St. Petersburg in 1893, was the designer of a number of the Art Nouveau buildings here. His works were characterized by decorative, odd-shaped or asymmetrical windows, often with large female head shapes, bright glazed brick or ceramic plates, glass and metal tiles etc. His son Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein was a well-known Soviet film director.

For a first quiet day in Amsterdam, head to the Rijksmuseum (www.rijksmuseum.nl) for the works of Rembrandt, Frans Hals, delftware and more and the  Van Gogh Museum (www.vangoghmuseum.nl), which are easy to double date as they are down the street from each other.

For free, in the garden of the Rijksmuseum, see if you can find the collection of sculptures and ruins in the form of building fragments from five centuries of Dutch architecture from Gothic pillars to city gates, a mishmash of pilasters, gables, lion masks and pieces of monuments from all over the city.

You can learn more about Rembrandt by visiting his home (www.rembrandthuis.nl) which he bought at the height of his fame in 1639 but lost to bankruptcy by 1656. In his studio you can watch a demonstration of how each day paints were made by his students, and there is an exhibition of his etchings.