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THURSDAY, JULY 17, 2014 SECTTON T

INDOCHINA TOUR BRANCHTS OUT Vietnam and Cambodia trip can include Burma, T2

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Girl lvith a Peari Earring is one of the stars oi rrt,i,.lv reollenetl l,{auritshuis Royal Picture Glillerv JENNIFER AttFORD SPECIAL TO THE STAR

She watches you everywhere you go.

trtom posters in

store windows, shopping bagS swinging on arms and

umbrellas held by gUards outside the Mauritshuis Royal Pichre Gallerywhere she lives.

The Girl with a Pearl Ea:ring is looking at you over her shoulder. There are almost as manyimages ofher asthere are people ridingbicycles here inThe Hague, 40 minutes southeast ofAmsterdam.

Vermeer painted the unloown model in 1665, ald

while she and the rest of his paintings were forgotten for centuries, they've had a good run of late. The GirI wtth q Pearl Earnng is also a novel. This, in turn, was turned ilto a movie starring Scarlett Johansson.

There's another fihn, with less lip-licking and more science, Tim's Vermeer, that e>rplores whether the arlist used mechanics and mirrors when he was painting.

EARRING continued on T5

Getting smart with phones makes for a happy t > tF YOU GO

RICK STEVES SPECIAL TO

Look at the big

IHE STAR

technolorythat makes travel easier than ever. Even when you want to get awayfrom it all, it makes sense to take your smartphone (or tablet) with you.

You can keep in touch if you want tq plus youll have instant access to resources that can enrich your trip. I wouldn't leave I love all the

picture Remember,

cellphones enable you to stay connected to the place you are visiting.

homewithoutmine.

Essentially, a smartphone helps you make the most of your travel time. For examplq some of Europe's blockbuster sights, such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Colosseum in Rome, allowyou to buy tickets and have them sent to your phone enabling you to skip the formidable lines when you get there.

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You can also check hours and get directions to places youwant to visit and confirm other details thathelp you planyour itinerary. I generally dodt care about the weather, but while filming recently in the Italian Riviera where good weather was critical, I repeatedly checked my weather app, hoping for a better forecast than the predicted drizzle.

Besides managing the nitly-gritty details, you can enhance sightseeing with audio tours and podcasts. (It works best to download these at home before your trip) I'm even starting to see more innovative ways to use you.r mobile device when sightseeing such as the QR codes posted at spots of interest in Colmar, Fbance. Scan one, and bam! You've got

the

information right there on your screen for free.

Usingyourphone abroad isn't hard, and

horror stories you may hear about sltyhigh roaming fees are both dated and exaggerated. With a little preparation, you can text, make calls, and access the Internet - without breaking the bank.

First, confirm that your phone will work

internationally. Find out youl service providert global roaming rates for voice call$ text-messaging and data-roaming and tell them which of those services youd like to activate. (When you get home, rememberto cancel these services to avoid exha charges.)

If youd rather use your phone exclusively on Wi-Fi ask your provider to de-

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More than 200 of Toronto s top restaurants offer three-course prix fixe menus for exceptional vatue. Bookyour reservations starting June 19,2011*I toronto.ca/su catt

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> IF YOLi G& Eat up Bring your

appetite for art and leave your bike helmet at home.

The Girlwith a Pearl Earring looks out at you from everywhere in The Hague, including umbrellas outside the Mauritshuis Royal Picture Gallery.

The Girl with a Pearl Earring looks out at you from everywhere in The Hague, including umbrellas outside the Mauritshuis Royal Picture Gallery, JENNIFER ATTFORD FOR THE TORONTO STAR

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Earring is one of the stars of newly ritshuis Royal Picture Gallery eyougo. Flomposters in gs swingingon arms and otrtside the Mauritshuis :

she lives.

ing is looking at you over ct as manyimages ofher

rydeshereinTheHagug sterdarn pwn model in f665, an4

while she and the rest of his paintings were forgotten for centuries, they've had a good mn of late. The Girl withaPearlEarring is also a novel. This, in turn, was turned into a movie starring Scarlett Johansson.

There's another film, with less lip-licking and more science, Tim's Vermeer, that q<plores whether the artist used mechanics and mirors when he was painting.

Hordes of people use The Hague's

EARRING continued on T5

day.

bike lanes every

ffi with phones makes for a happy trip R

uologrthatmakesfravel : Evenwhenyouwantto

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it malres sense to take

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smartphone helps you of your havel time. For

of Europe's blodrbrster Eiffel Tower in Paris urninRome, allowyouto have them sent to your ngyou to skip the formiayougetthere. &re

You can also check hours and get directions to places youwanttovisit, and conflrm other details that help you plan your itinerary. I generallydon't care aboutthe weather, but while filming recently in the Italian Rivier4 where good weather was critical, I repeatedly checked my weather app, hoping for a better forecast than the predicted drizzle.

Besides managing the nitty-gitty details, you can enhance sightseeing with audio tours and podcasts. (It works best to download these at home before your frip) I'm even starting to see more innovative wala to use your mobile device when sightseeing such as the QR codes posted at spots of interest in Colmar, Flance. Scan one, and bam! Yorlve got the

information right there on your screen forfree.

Usingyoruphone abroad isn't hard, and

horror stories you may hear about skyhigh roaming fees are both dated and exaggerated. With a little preparation, you can text, make calls, and access the Intemet - without breaking the banlc First, confirm that your phone will work intemationally. Find out your service providet's global roaming rates for voice calls, text-messaging and data-roaming

and tell them which of those services you'd like to activate. (Mhen you get home, remember to cancel these services to avoid exha charges) If you'd rather use your phone exclusively on Wi-Fi, ask your provider to de-

activate roaming options on your account. You can also put your phone in "airplane mode," and then turn your WiFi back on.

Luckily, Wi-Fi is easy to find throughout Europe. Most accommodations offer it, usuallyfor free. When yorlre out and about, head to a caf6. They'll usually tell

you their Wi-Fi password if you buy sornething. Some towns have free public

Wi-Fi hotspots scattered around higNy trafficked areas. Keep in mind using a shared network comes with the potential for cyber-attacks. Ifs safest to use a password-protected network rather than being open to the world.

SMARTPHONES continued on T2

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The Hague's Mauritshuis is filled with Dutch masterpieces EARRING from

Delft, in t66I There's a monument

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Whether you linow your Vermeer from a Van Gogh, ifs easy to be inhiguedbythe Girl and its artist "One thingyou have to lmowabout Vermeer is thatwe dort't knowanything about him," says Herman Weyerg the director of the Vermeer

Cenhe in Delft, a 20-minute tram ridefromTheHague.

No oneis surewho taughtVermeer to paint howmanypaintings he finished (there are 3Tlcrownworls) or how "the master of lighf ' managed to capture such detail without sketdtingonthe canvasfirst.

TheVermeer Cente, on the site of the guildwhere the artistwas dean of painters, explores the mysterywith a

model studio and replicas of Vermeet's paintings displayed in the order they were painted. This showi howthe same room, models andyellowjacket showup repeatedlyin his

work

marking the spot along the canal and the boat tour stops so you can compare the viewwith a laminated version ofthe painting. Onlythe church tower is the same.

Bicycles are the king of haffic here; there arebike lanes everywhere. Signage, rules and helmets are largely absent, but cyclists nuurage to manoeuwe around each otherwhile pedesfrians, cars and even big trucla yield to the almightybike.

Rent a bike, Stick to the right and

painted View of Defft, in

b6t

There's a ntonument r,narki*g

the'spot abrg the canal you a geat prim-

A quick tour gives refresher, on the artist, the period and the paintings. The star of the

er, or

show, with her glistening lip, big pearl earring and unusual blue and yellow head gear is about half way along.

"I

don't like her at all," admits Weyers. "I likethe little onewiththe

You haUs<pect to see

a

The real Grrl wfh

a

Pearl Eaning rs

beautifrrllyrenovated Mauritshuis, in the cenhe of The Hagug rigtrt ne:rt door to the Dutchparliament.

The museumwas closedfor e>rtensive restorations and renovations, which induded the creation of a lower level ahium that links the ITthCentury Mauritshuis with an adjacent 1930s building and doubles the size ofthe Royal Picture Gallery.

As you walk up from the bright atri-. um, the white walls and stone steps givewayto darb carved,woodenrailings and deep red walls filled with

guide leading a quick tour says: "\Me're lookingat flowers from a gallopinghorse!"

I slow down to a trot and check out 200 works including the Vierv from Delftbefore finallygoingto meet the Sd I've seen everywhere around

down.

Many ofVermeey's works are of solitary figures in ordinary indoor circumstances, but he did venture outside for inspiration a few times. The

Little Street captures Delft as it looked inl657 andwhen tourists ask where to get a picture of the site lost to history Weyers jokes: "I send them next door, to the bike shop."

You can see where Verrneer painted

another outdoor scene, View of

'

from the Canadian Embassy) and watch bike rush hour from your balcony. ln Delft, the Westcord Hotel offers an lkea-like vibe conveniently across the street from a

giant lkea.

while she's enjoying the attention, she's also just a little amused by all thefius.

Jennifer Allford was a guest of the Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions and its partners. Follow her on

Twitter @Jennif erAllford

Detail of Girl with a Pearl Earring, Johanne

Dutch masterpieces.

As I take in the paintings of Rembrandt, Rubens and othermasters, a

gesturingto ttre Girl

says,

Haag to see Piet Mondrian's final and unfinished work Victory Boogie Woogie, and imagine how it might have looked had he completed it. Check out the illusion created by the giant painting of a fishing village at"the Panorama created in 1881 by Hendrik Willem Mesdag.

Visit the Penthouse in The Hague for a great meal on the 42nd floor and an even better view of the beach at Scheveningen. Later, rent a bike and ride out to see the beach up close and get sand in your toes. ln The Hague, stay at the charming Carlton Ambassador (across

girl ride pass

you on the left with her gold-andblue turbanflying.

with the Red Hat a few paintings

redhat " he

Go to the Gemeentemuseum Den

enjoy people cycling along in their daily routine a man carrying a step ladder, another canying a case of Heineken, awoman pedalling in expensive red pumpq parents with kids in a gtant bucket out front a military man in full regalia-

safe and sound in the

You can see where Vermeer

> tF YOU GO

tov,rn.

Art critics sayVermeer has Ieft it to

fill in what the Girl with a Pearl Eaningis thinkingabout, an4 when I walk into the rcom and finally see us to

her face to face, as dozens ofpeople take herpicture, I get the feelingthat

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Mauritshuis is Dutch masterpieces

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Del& in 166I Thereb a monument markingthespotalongthecanal, and the boat tour stops so you can compare the viewwith a laminated version ofthe painting. Onlythe church

> tF YOU GO Go to the Gemeentemuseum Den Flaag to see Piet Mondrian's final and unfinished work Victory Boogie Woogie, and imagine how it might have looked had he completed it. Check out the illusion created by the giant painting of a fishing village at the Panorama created in 1881 by Hendrik Willem Mesdag.

Visit the Penthouse in The Hague for a great meal on the 42nd floor and an even better view of the beach at Scheveningen. Later, rent a bike and ride out to see the beach up close and get sand in your toes. ln The Hague, stay at the charming Carlton Ambassador (across

toweristhesame.

Bicycles are the king of fraffic here; there arebike lanes everywhere. Signagg nrles and helmets are largely absent, but cyclists numage to manoeuvre arorurd each otherwhile pedesfrians, cars and even big trucks yield to the almigltybike.

Rent a bilrc, stick to the right and mjoy people cycling along in their daily routine: a man carrying a step laddel another carrying a case of Heineken, a woman pedalling in e:t-

pensive red pumpq parents with kids in a gtant bucket out front a military man in frrll regalia Youhalforpectto see agirlridepass )'ou on the left with her gold-and-

blueturbanflying Tlre real GirlwithaPearlEatring s safe andsoundinthebeautifullyrenorated Mauritshuis, in the centre of The Hague right next door to the

'

from the Canadian Embassy) and watch bike rush hour from your balcony. ln Delft, the Westcord Hotel offers an lkea-like vibe conveniently across the street from a

giant lkea.

DutdrparliamenL The museum was closed for extensive restorations and renovations,

wtridrincludedthe creation of alower level atrium that links the lTthCenhrry Mauritshuis with an adjacent 1930s building and doubles the size ofthe Ropl Picture Gallery.

As youwalkup from the bright atuiunu the white walls and stone steps

while she's enjoying the attentiorl she's also just a little amused by all thefuss.

Jennifer Allford was a guest of the Netherlands Board ofTourism & Conventions and its partners. Follow her on

Twitter @JenniferAl lf ord

Detail of Girl with a Peorl Earring, Johannes Vermeer, 1665

rail-

give wayto dark, caryed wooden

ings and deep red w'alls filled with Dutch masterpieces.

As I take in the paintings of Rembrandt, Rubens andothermasters, a

guide leading a quick tour

says:

'We're lookingat flowers from lopinghorse!"

a

gal-

I slow down to a trot and dreck out 200 worls including the View from Delft before finally going to meet the

gd

I've seen everywhere around town.

Art critics sayVermeer has left it to fill inwhat the Girlwith a Pearl Earring is thinking about, an{ when I walk into the room and finally see her face to face, as dozens ofpeople

us to

at

take herpicture, I get the feelingthat

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