Tag Archives: travel
Abbaye Saint-Philibert in Tournus: tranverse barrel vault FOR THE WIN!
We visited stark Abbaye Saint-Philibert in Tournus on a chilly winter day. (If you’re also visiting in winter, bundle up!) The interior was….ingenious. Apparently transverse barrel vaulting was invented here and it’s an engineering feet which turns the vaults that normally run the length of the church’s nave sideways, like a half barrel, and transfers the […]
Urbino: Ideal Renaissance city drowned in a sea of drunken students
How could I help it? I idealized Urbino. Even though I’ve long maintained a vigilant stance against romanticizing people and places alike, this was Urbino: Renaissance mecca for humanists, scholars, art and architecture. The location, in the isolated and mountainous region of Italy’s Marche, combined with being a university town filled me with visions of […]
Saint Sernin Basilica, Toulouse: Romanesque enchantment (just ignore the parking lot)
By now you know that I feel all warm in my ladyparts just thinking about Romanesque art and architecture, most especially French Romanesque. The juiciest of all French Romanesque buildings are the pilgrimage churches, and Saint Sernin is a delightful representation of a French Romanesque pilgrimage church, complete with stunning well-preserved stone carvings, medieval frescos, capital carvings, an […]
Practical and pragmatic Frankfurt: post-modern architecture, hideous historical reproductions, and a visit to the red light district
Frankfurt is a model of efficiency and pragmatism with superior infrastructure. The ride from the train station to the airport takes 12 minutes. Cars politely defer to bike riders and pedestrians. Everything is clean and orderly–even the red light district. We walked by a “fix cafe” where drug addicts meet with social workers for clean […]
I’ve been nominated for a Liebster Award!!!
I’m really excited to learn that Lucia from http://unexpectedwanderlust.com/ has nominated me for a Liebster Award!! Thank you Lucia! What is the Liebster Award, you ask? The Liebster Award is an online award given out by fellow bloggers to new bloggers with under 500 followers to congratulate them / highlight their blog. I feel quite honored! […]
Masterworks in St. Lorenz of Nuremberg, three little weenies, and a tourist trap
St. Lorenz church is packed to the gills (or would be, if churches had gills) with masterworks of art. I’m not throwing the word “masterworks” around: we are talking about immensely talented sculptors Adam Kraft and Veit Stoss working at the top of their game. The church also has impressive (and sometimes funny) stained glass […]
Jetlag is like the third act of a Mozart Opera
Jet lag is part of the travel experience and once you learn to think of it that way, it’s so much easier to cope with. Opera makes a good analogy: there are some people who believe opera is a three minute clip on a reality tv show, you know those clips that end up on […]
Bamberg Cathedral’s Last Judgment tympanium: some kings go to heaven, some kings go to H-E-double hockey stick.
See, there’s Christ in the center, with Virgin and St. John at his feet. Some happy naked people are popping up out of graves under his feet. On the left, some annoyingly self-satisfied folks are headed to their eternal reward, on the right, well, the facial expressions say it all. I know, I know, I […]
Gothic sculpture in Bamberg: disputing prophets and apostles, a touch of anti-semitism, and a secret tip
Do you love Gothic sculpture? Well, what are you waiting for? Get yourself over to Bamberg, Germany asap, run up a steep hill past all the college kids drinking smoked beer, past the City Hall that may or may not have been designed by Jeff Koons, to the cathedral. Don’t miss the superb tympanum and the […]
Picnic at the Cathedral 