Hello from Europe!
Paris was a whirlwind of museums and cathedrals. I had an incredible time, as I'm sure tattermuffin and her mother did as well.
We went to the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre (three times), Notre Dame de Paris, St. Chappelle cathedral (which has incredible stained glass windows making up nearly all four walls, with only pillars in between), the Musee D'Orsay (impressionists), the Cluny (medieval museum), the Crypt Archaeologique (showing the foundations of Roman buildings under modern Paris), an exhibit of the weapons and armor of "the knights of Islam", the Conciergerie (a palace used as a law court and prison during the revolution), the Cathedral de la Madeleine (a cathedral dedicated to Mary Magdalene), where we heard them perform Handel's Messiah, and the Alexander Nevski Cathedral. I also went to the Catacombes (underground tunnels where bones from many Parisian cemetaries were moved when they were too full to hold any more bodies), the Musee Rodin (Rodin sculptures), the tomb of Napoleon at Les Invalides, the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs-elysee (ritzy shopping), the Place de la Concorde (it houses an enormous obelisk from Egypt), the Musee de l'Orangerie (eight enormous Monet waterlillies paintings, plus sundry other Impressionists, Picasso, Matisse, and a handful of others), the Tuilleries (famous gardens between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde), the Louvre again, the Musee des Arts Decoratif (furniture, objets d'art, paintings, tablewear -- all the things with which wealthy people decorate and furnish their homes), and the Centre Pompidou (modern art museum).
If you weren't counting, that's 20 museums, cathedrals, and monuments in 8 days, and that's only counting the Louvre once, although I went there four times. I think my feet may have finally forgiven me.
My biggest disappointment was the Tuilleries, because they're famous gardens, and yet there was NOTHING to see except some grass and trees, a few hedges and the occasional sculpture or fountain, and a bunch of empty beds that may perhaps have held flowers or decorative plants at some point. In contrast, the garden at the Musee Rodin was quite lovely, with lots of roses in bloom, and the garden at Les Invalides was spectacular, even though there wasn't a single flower in bloom. I really think I will never entirely get over my disappointment in the Tuilleries. From now on, I'll say things like, "Well, that was a little disappointing, but not as disappointing as the Tuilleries."
Anyway, other disappointments included the fact that the museum of textile and fashion was closed (I think for renovation, although I'm not sure), and "Le Defenseur du Temps" a mechanical clock that I really wanted to see go through its paces (a knight fights off a bird, a dragon, and a crab), which was apparently not working, after I'd rushed there to be in time to see it strike.
Anyway, I get the disappointments out of the way, so that I can get on with gushing about how wonderful Paris is. The buildings, the cathedrals, the museums, my god, it's incredible. Everywhere you look, there's something amazing. We saw the code of Hammurabi. THE actual freaking CODE OF HAMMURABI. How fantastic is that? And I was surrounded, absolutely surrounded, by incredible Greek amphorae, depicting Heracles fighting the hydra, and Achilles with the body of Hector, etc., gorgeous, incredibly detailed, 2500 years old. Egyptian, Roman, Middle Eastern antiquities, masterpieces of art everywhere you looked, incredible furniture (I drooled over all the art nouveau pieces), it was all just mind-boggling. I could have stayed months, years, maybe decades, and never had opporunity to fully appreciate everything Paris has to offer, though by heaven I sampled as much as I could manage!
Then I went on to Versailles, where on the second day we toured the Chateau and the Grand Trianon (another nearby chateau) and the grounds of the Petit Trianon, which was Marie Antoinette's residence, but we didn't get to see the inside of that because it was closed. After Versailles, we spent two days in Bourgogne (Burgundy), near Dijon, staying in a little chateau there. We didn't get any mustard, but did have a lovely time. (Why don't they have mustard tastings like they have wine tastings? I'd much prefer that.)
We arrived in Munich on Friday night after a lengthy drive. Bavaria is gorgeous!! The French countryside was pretty, but I swear Bavaria couldn't be more beautiful if they had planned it to be as beautiful as possible. It is mostly lovely rolling green hills dotted with patches of forest, much of which is currently brilliant reds, yellows, and oranges with the changing leaves.
My aunt and uncle live near the Nymphenburg castle, and she and I went and walked some of the grounds on Saturday evening. The castle itself was closed, but the grounds are lovely. Hopefully we will go tour inside the castle soon.
Yesterday we drove into the Bavarian alps near the Austrian border and went to a couple of small towns, Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Oberammergau. They're so lovely! The buildings are pretty, with wooden shutters, window boxes full of flowers, and little balconies. Many of the buildings have murals or other decorative painting on them. It's quite pretty (and sometimes a little silly). Bavarian churches are amazing. The outside doesn't look like much, but the insides are jaw-dropping, full of carving and gilding and painting, and with massive pipe organs. They're something else.
Today my uncle had to work, and my aunt and I went to downtown Munich and wandered around and went into an incredibly ornate church and also watched the glockenspiel on another church go through its dance. We did a little shopping, and I found a cool spoon rest for my mom (who was looking for one). Today was also the day for laundry and catching up on internet stuff.
What else we do depends on the weather, which is supposed to be mostly cold and rainy this week. I'm hoping for better weather one of the weekend days, so we can go up to Fussen to the castles there. In any case, we are also tentatively planing a trip to Innsbruck and maybe Salzberg while I'm here. It looks like the Copenhagen trip is off, which is fine with me as there are many things to see around here anyway.
I haven't been reading LJ at all, so I have no idea how anyone is doing. I was busy visiting relatives, and then visiting museums. So I am impossibly far behind, I don't know if I'll ever be able to catch up, but I hope you all are doing well, and look forward to being back in touch more when I return to the US (November 19) or to the SF Bay Area (December 3rd).
We went to the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre (three times), Notre Dame de Paris, St. Chappelle cathedral (which has incredible stained glass windows making up nearly all four walls, with only pillars in between), the Musee D'Orsay (impressionists), the Cluny (medieval museum), the Crypt Archaeologique (showing the foundations of Roman buildings under modern Paris), an exhibit of the weapons and armor of "the knights of Islam", the Conciergerie (a palace used as a law court and prison during the revolution), the Cathedral de la Madeleine (a cathedral dedicated to Mary Magdalene), where we heard them perform Handel's Messiah, and the Alexander Nevski Cathedral. I also went to the Catacombes (underground tunnels where bones from many Parisian cemetaries were moved when they were too full to hold any more bodies), the Musee Rodin (Rodin sculptures), the tomb of Napoleon at Les Invalides, the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs-elysee (ritzy shopping), the Place de la Concorde (it houses an enormous obelisk from Egypt), the Musee de l'Orangerie (eight enormous Monet waterlillies paintings, plus sundry other Impressionists, Picasso, Matisse, and a handful of others), the Tuilleries (famous gardens between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde), the Louvre again, the Musee des Arts Decoratif (furniture, objets d'art, paintings, tablewear -- all the things with which wealthy people decorate and furnish their homes), and the Centre Pompidou (modern art museum).
If you weren't counting, that's 20 museums, cathedrals, and monuments in 8 days, and that's only counting the Louvre once, although I went there four times. I think my feet may have finally forgiven me.
My biggest disappointment was the Tuilleries, because they're famous gardens, and yet there was NOTHING to see except some grass and trees, a few hedges and the occasional sculpture or fountain, and a bunch of empty beds that may perhaps have held flowers or decorative plants at some point. In contrast, the garden at the Musee Rodin was quite lovely, with lots of roses in bloom, and the garden at Les Invalides was spectacular, even though there wasn't a single flower in bloom. I really think I will never entirely get over my disappointment in the Tuilleries. From now on, I'll say things like, "Well, that was a little disappointing, but not as disappointing as the Tuilleries."
Anyway, other disappointments included the fact that the museum of textile and fashion was closed (I think for renovation, although I'm not sure), and "Le Defenseur du Temps" a mechanical clock that I really wanted to see go through its paces (a knight fights off a bird, a dragon, and a crab), which was apparently not working, after I'd rushed there to be in time to see it strike.
Anyway, I get the disappointments out of the way, so that I can get on with gushing about how wonderful Paris is. The buildings, the cathedrals, the museums, my god, it's incredible. Everywhere you look, there's something amazing. We saw the code of Hammurabi. THE actual freaking CODE OF HAMMURABI. How fantastic is that? And I was surrounded, absolutely surrounded, by incredible Greek amphorae, depicting Heracles fighting the hydra, and Achilles with the body of Hector, etc., gorgeous, incredibly detailed, 2500 years old. Egyptian, Roman, Middle Eastern antiquities, masterpieces of art everywhere you looked, incredible furniture (I drooled over all the art nouveau pieces), it was all just mind-boggling. I could have stayed months, years, maybe decades, and never had opporunity to fully appreciate everything Paris has to offer, though by heaven I sampled as much as I could manage!
Then I went on to Versailles, where on the second day we toured the Chateau and the Grand Trianon (another nearby chateau) and the grounds of the Petit Trianon, which was Marie Antoinette's residence, but we didn't get to see the inside of that because it was closed. After Versailles, we spent two days in Bourgogne (Burgundy), near Dijon, staying in a little chateau there. We didn't get any mustard, but did have a lovely time. (Why don't they have mustard tastings like they have wine tastings? I'd much prefer that.)
We arrived in Munich on Friday night after a lengthy drive. Bavaria is gorgeous!! The French countryside was pretty, but I swear Bavaria couldn't be more beautiful if they had planned it to be as beautiful as possible. It is mostly lovely rolling green hills dotted with patches of forest, much of which is currently brilliant reds, yellows, and oranges with the changing leaves.
My aunt and uncle live near the Nymphenburg castle, and she and I went and walked some of the grounds on Saturday evening. The castle itself was closed, but the grounds are lovely. Hopefully we will go tour inside the castle soon.
Yesterday we drove into the Bavarian alps near the Austrian border and went to a couple of small towns, Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Oberammergau. They're so lovely! The buildings are pretty, with wooden shutters, window boxes full of flowers, and little balconies. Many of the buildings have murals or other decorative painting on them. It's quite pretty (and sometimes a little silly). Bavarian churches are amazing. The outside doesn't look like much, but the insides are jaw-dropping, full of carving and gilding and painting, and with massive pipe organs. They're something else.
Today my uncle had to work, and my aunt and I went to downtown Munich and wandered around and went into an incredibly ornate church and also watched the glockenspiel on another church go through its dance. We did a little shopping, and I found a cool spoon rest for my mom (who was looking for one). Today was also the day for laundry and catching up on internet stuff.
What else we do depends on the weather, which is supposed to be mostly cold and rainy this week. I'm hoping for better weather one of the weekend days, so we can go up to Fussen to the castles there. In any case, we are also tentatively planing a trip to Innsbruck and maybe Salzberg while I'm here. It looks like the Copenhagen trip is off, which is fine with me as there are many things to see around here anyway.
I haven't been reading LJ at all, so I have no idea how anyone is doing. I was busy visiting relatives, and then visiting museums. So I am impossibly far behind, I don't know if I'll ever be able to catch up, but I hope you all are doing well, and look forward to being back in touch more when I return to the US (November 19) or to the SF Bay Area (December 3rd).