Category Archives: churches

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Vienna and Prague

The first day of a European trip means jet lag, and this was no exception. We landed around 8:30 and couldn’t check into our apartment until 3:00, so we dropped our bags at Bounce (now that we understand to look for a little hole in the wall) and set out.

Our first stop was the Albertina, an art museum that also houses a branch of Demel, “Home of the finest cakes, chocolates and sweets in the heart of Vienna.” Here we are enjoying a little pastry and coffee in the best Viennese tradition.

Thus fortified, we wandered through the art gallery, currently displaying “From Monet to Picasso.” Among the Impressionists, Expressionists and Cubists was this colorful Picasso,

an idyllic image that on closer inspection reveals a congested composition that reflects the tensions between Picasso and his beloved. Me, I liked the strong lines and constricted patterns. Quilt inspiration?

Since we had the time, we walked to St. Stephen’s Cathedral with its famous tiled roof that I remembered from my visit with Kit thirty-some years ago.

Inside we admired the intricate carvings on the pulpit

and enjoyed the self-portrait by one of the carvers.

Our jet lag was catching up with us, so we slowly made our way to the Operngasse, where our apartment awaited us. But stop! Eva, the apartment owner, said we could not get in until 3:30, so we sat outside on some very uncomfortable wooden benches until she should appear. Well, at least an hour and a half went by, so around 5:00 Alison texted her again. Soon enough a young man popped up (he is one of the apartment owners, I think) and said that Eva had sent a text a while ago saying that the apartment was ready! We had missed it entirely, and I blame it all on jet lag.

He showed us how everything worked – coffee maker, keys, wifi, etc. – and left us to our own devices. We were really beat but needed some food so we stopped by Billa, the local grocery chain, to pick up a few necessities (coffee pods, wine, yogurt, etc.). We then wandered along one of the streets in search of food and found a wonderful pub-like restaurant, where a delicious bowl of goulash and crusty bread (and wine) restored us.

(Thanks to other diners for these images, I was too hungry to take pictures!)

And so our first day ended happily.

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Posted on October 2, 2025 in a little drama, art, churches, much depends on dinner, soup

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Farewell to Salisbury

On our last day here, we started by walking through the Queen Elizabeth Gardens, dedicated in the early 1960s in honor of the queen’s coronation. We had a pleasant stroll and enjoyed the views of the River Avon. And, of course, the gardens themselves. I can’t quite identify these plantings, except for the Queen Anne’s lace, though the names are on the tip of my tongue.

From here we walked through the city center to St. Thomas Church, which is famous for its 15th century Doom painting by an unknown painter. Jesus is at the top center, while on one side angels drag the wicked down into hell and on the other they help the good into the new Jerusalem. During the Reformation it was whitewashed over, then restored, and then whitewashed at least one more time over the centuries, but has fairly recently been cleaned and restored. It’s quite impressive.

Next up, after a quick visit to Waterstone’s, was a tour of Salisbury cathedral, and it was spectacular. Our guide was knowledgeable and lively and could answer just about every question asked. This is the gorgeous baptismal font, which reflects so well that you could get dizzy and fall in if you weren’t careful.

And here’s a less dizzying look:

We dutifully looked at the oldest operating clock in the world, and I wished Pat had been here to understand it, which was more than I could do!

More highlights of this most beautiful cathedral:

We also visited the Magna Carta in the Chapter House. I remembered that on my last visit there, 30+ years ago, a guide told us that the Magna Carta was taken home every night by one of the staff who feared it was not safe left lying around! When I asked on this trip if this were true, two different people said, “Probably!” They preserve it a bit more carefully these days.

The Cloister and Chapter House are glorious.

Dinner tonight was at Baroushka’s again. Why not stick with the best?!

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Posted on November 30, 2024 in churches, England

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Our old stomping grounds

Yes, we’re back in England! We splurged on a BA flight in business class, and it was so worth it. We both slept fairly well, were able to stretch out, and, almost as good, enjoyed eating on real plates and drinking out of real glasses. We took the Heathrow Express to Paddington, got the train to Bath, and arrived at our lovely little flat with no trouble. Well, except for fumbling with the key box, but luckily a pair of young women passing by helped to figure it out. (This need for help may be a recurring theme, get ready!)

After a trip to Sainsbury’s to stock up on essentials, we had a wee supper and soon were in bed.

Today was cool and cloudy with peeks of sun, perfect walking weather. We had a leisurely morning before setting off for Bath Abbey and a lovely tour of a building that’s seen plenty of history over the past few centuries. It’s famous for this fan vaulting, quite stunning.

Our guide touched on the most important dates, which helped to set the stage for everything from the founding of the abbey pre-1000 A.D., to the dissolution of the monasteries (thanks, C.J. Sansom, for your novels about same), to the WWII damage to the stained glass. I had not known that they called the German bombings in this part of the world the “Baedeker bombings,” because the Germans wanted to target the most popular religious and tourist sites. This stained glass window honors the damaged windows that were restored in 1951.

The guide was pleased to show us an American flag on display (with only 48 stars) that marked the English thanks to the Americans for our part in the war, along with plaques that commemorated several American friends of England. Among these was one honoring a Mr. Bingham, whose history as a businessman, entrepeneur and senator is almost forgotten these days. Binghamton, NY, for example, was named for him. But I digress.

After a quick visit to the loo (twinned with Zambia!), we stopped by the gift shop and then wandered over to Sally Lunn’s, the oldest restaurant in town (as in, 15th century, or so they say). Narrow, twisting stairs up to the second floor led to a cozy room filled with tourists like us. The salmon and cream cheese and the Welsh rarebit were both delicious, and not heavy at all. A nice treat.

Then off to Topping’s bookstore (we’ve been to the one in Ely before) for another treat. Of course, most of the books I longed to buy were too big to fit into the suitcase, but I did find a small book about flat lands in England that I am looking forward to reading over the next weeks.

Then a visit to the post office to turn in old money for new, in my case an old 20 pound note for a new one, but still featuring the queen rather than Charles. The young man at the post office was quite helpful.

Home for a nap and a nip of wine, and then off to the Green Street Brasserie for a pub dinner. And so to bed.

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Posted on June 19, 2024 in a little drama, churches, England, not really

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Delacroix and Ste. Chapelle

Our plan for today was to take the train to Chartres Cathedral, with its Gothic architecture and gorgeous stained glass. We had all been there but since it had been about fifty years ago, we were looking forward to seeing it anew. However, the travel gods were against us: Paris is on strike due to the proposed change in retirement age from 62 to 64. Everyone advised us not to even attempt a train, so we had a free day to do whatever we wanted.

We started out at the Delacroix Museum, which was modest and only mildly interesting, but pleasant enough.

It’s housed in the elegant apartment and studio he lived and worked in and features many of his drawings, paintings and sculptures. His most famous paintings are at the Louvre, of course, but the artwork featured here showed another side to him. The paintings inspired by his visits to north Africa were particularly interesting.

Then off to an early lunch because we were told we’d need to get in line at 1:30 for our 2:00 timed tickets for Ste. Chapelle (more on this anon).

We found a cafe just across the street and sat down for a leisurely light lunch: Quiche and salad for Alison and me, French onion soup for Silla.

We took our time and enjoyed watching everyone walking along outside, guessing whether they were French or otherwise. (Of course the only way to confirm the outcome would be to stop and ask them, which was impossible!)

At around 1:00 we got in the long line for the chapel, hoping that they would not mind that we were at least an hour early. As it turned out, both venues made it sound very difficult to arrange a ticket (the Delacroix being the kind of website that takes forever to use and then foils you at the last minute) and advised us to make absolutely certain that we arrived there right on time – but it’s all a canard! The Delacroix let us buy our tickets on the spot, and there were only half a dozen or so other people even there. The chapel, after making everyone confused about which long line to get in, didn’t care a whit that we were an hour early and let us sail through!

Today was cloudy, then brightly sunny, then cloudy again and then, while we were standing in line, raining hard for about five minutes. And of course you want to see the stained glass in good light. Well, we had enough sun to point out the contrast between light and shade, so that was fine, not to say occasionally brilliant. The intense blue, gold and red are so stunning that I couldn’t stop taking pictures.

The audio guide was designed for giants who could stand in front of the highest windows and pick out the figures from the Bible, so we didn’t have much luck with that. But in the end, the glories of the light, and the fascinating videos showing how they’ve restored the glass and cleaned the stone, were absorbing and illuminating. All in all, a stunning space.

Dinner tonight was at Le Compas, the same place we went to last night, because we all liked it, especially Silla. Very French in the sense that all the waiters were professional and quick, and the food was traditional and delicious. Silla and I each had what the other one had had the night before, and we were both happy: mine was fish au citron and hers was the salmon with green beans. AO was very happy with her red meat.

Then, because it was Silla’s last night with us, we splurged on creme brulee for us two, while AO had tarte tatin, and we were all delighted.

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Posted on June 27, 2023 in art, blue, churches, much depends on dinner, Paris

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Hanging out with Hals

This morning we took the train to Haarlem to visit the Frans Hals museum. It is breathtakingly easy and efficient to travel by train in this country, and it made me want to hang my head in shame at the state of US train service. Everything here is done virtually or with a credit card, and the resulting ticket is simply scanned as you enter the station and/or again as you leave. We never did clap eyes on a conductor, and we didn’t need to. It took us approximately 30 minutes to buy a ticket, find our platform and sit back as we were whisked along to Haarlem.

I admired these tiles in the Haarlem train station, echoes of an earlier time. The first celebrates the first 100 years of the railroad, and the second is the sign for the first class waiting room. Find out more about this Art Nouveau station here.

It was cold and blustery today, so we huddled down in our coats and hoods and walked along the streets to our destination. We saw some interesting storefronts,

including this inviting cheese shop (with cheese, wine, bread and charcuterie, what else could you need?),

but we didn’t stop.

Finally at the Hals (yes, a nice flower shop owner pointed us in the right direction), we started out with a very well designed film about the man, his times, his subjects and his techniques. He’s well known for his lively group portraits of militia men, whom Hals painted as individuals rather than a dull lot of wealthy men wearing lots of black and looking stern. This museum has the most of these militia paintings, and they’re quite impressive as a group.

We aso saw the Regentesses group portrait, which our History of Western Art lecturer covered in great detail, drawing special attention to their hands and posture.

Of course, his ordinary characters are the most appealing portraits, at least to 21st century eyes. Several of these are at the Rijks, with the Marriage Portrait of Isaac Massa and Beatrix van der Laen being perhaps the best known and most loved.

Also on view was a fancy Poppenhuis, or dollhouse, which was of particular interest to me because one of the beds was covered by a tiny (scale of 1 to 10) palampore, a type of chintz made in India for the export market, including the US, and often quilted. #quiltsareeverywhere

We liked the gently curved back streets of Haarlem

and found our way to a small restaurant that served a most delicious mustard and cream soup (recipes, anyone? here’s one and here’s another one) and assorted small sandwiches, the perfect lunch.

A short stroll took us to St. Bavo,

a former Catholic cathedral turned Reformed Protestant church, with its stunning fan-vaulted ceiling

and enormous organ that was played by Mozart when he was young.

The three model ships hanging from the ceiling recall the country’s shipping history, as does a memorial nearby to hydraulic engineers.

Among the carvings, we appreciated (?) this one showing a man biting a pillar.

Find out what the heck that is all about here.

We also enjoyed the pelican lectern, which as Rick Steves points out was made by someone who had probably never seen a pelican, shaped as it is like an eagle.

The cathedral was so filled with stories and iconography that we could have lingered longer, but instead exited through the gift shop and headed back through the Haarlem streets to the station, which we had no trouble finding!

On the way home, we stopped at Centraal Station to pick up some delicious carrot cake to have with tea at home. Dinner consisted of little pies from the market. So nice to warm up dinner rather than actually cooking…

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Posted on April 14, 2023 in Amsterdam, art, churches, soup