After considerable use from the moment I got it a year ago, my precious museum card hasn’t seen much action these last few months, and is, unfortunately, about to reach the end of its shelf life next week. It was the perfect weekend to take a step back and see if there was anyplace else that we could use it for. A quick Sunday car ride later and we found ourselves in nearby Haarlem to see a man named Hals. Frans Hals.

One his best known paintings actually wasn’t on display in this museum but rather in the Louvre (which if I’m lucky I may get to see again this year!). Called ‘The Jester Playing A Lute’, luckily, we had a volunteer willing to fill in. The similarity was just uncanny.