freiburg (with a strasbourg bonus)

Well folks, this is my last travel post! How did we get here? [how the hell? Pan left…] I had about 10 different plans back in October of how I would get back to Freiburg, and in the end I went my second-to-last weekend in Europe, but better late than never! I brought Felicitas along with me and hopefully did not annoy her too much with my constant wonderment at being back.

And because we procrastinated in finding a hostel/apartment/hotel, we weren’t able to find anywhere in Freiburg for Saturday night. So, we decided to go to Strasbourg for the evening before going our separate ways on Sunday, myself back to Dresden and Flitzi to visit her grandparents in Wiesbaden. It all worked out wonderfully!

We had an early flight from Dresden to Stuttgart on Friday morning and then took a series of regional trains to Freiburg, which took about 4 hours because there isn’t anything direct! Which is a bit ridiculous, but anyway, we made it there by 2 PM. Our hostel was very basic but had an amazing location right off the Dreisam (technically a river, apparently, but more like a creek), adjacent to the Schlossberg hill which overlooks the city. We saw some of the sites as we walked to the hostel, and I began my 24 hours of marveling at how time and memory work.

I was in Freiburg three years ago. I’m a totally different person now than I was when I left. I’ve spent so much time thinking about Freiburg and missing it and reminiscing about it. And then to be back… it was like no time had passed, but like an eternity had elapsed since I was last there. It’s strange. But in all, it was nice to be back. We’ll leave it at that.

Because we were so nearby, we climbed the Schlossberg first, taking in fabulous views like this one:

And I recreated some old photos from last time:

We tried to find the overlook tower but somehow failed, so we descended into the city, bought some bottled water before we died of thirst, and started meandering the familiar (to me) streets.

By the time we got there, the Münster market had mostly already closed and packed up for the day, and we got to briefly see the inside of the cathedral but there was Mass happening so we couldn’t stay for long. After a quick trip to dip our feet in the Dreisam and an even quicker “tour” of the university, we stopped at my very favorite restaurant, Euphrat, a middle eastern place owned by an Afghani family. I ate there close to every day while I lived in Freiburg and I have dreamed (dreamt?) of their food ever since. And it did not disappoint my memory!

We enjoyed a scoop of ice cream near the theater (which now serves as the end station of most of the tram lines due to major construction in the city center) and jumped on a tram up to my old abode, StuSie. I do not have fond memories of StuSie (my dorm was disgusting and I didn’t have many friends there to speak of), but one good thing about it was always its proximity to the Seepark, a gorgeous park surrounding a huge lake. So that was our destination for the evening.

My only regret: that I forgot my swimsuit in Dresden!!! It would have been so refreshing to take a dip.

OH!! One other thing I got to check off my Freiburg bucket list–sitting on the Blaue Brücke, a bridge over the train tracks. All the cool kids go sit on the top of the bridge and drink beer, and i never got to do it… until this time! It was incredibly terrifying but hey. I did it. (Minus the beer. Whatever.)

On Saturday morning, we rented bikes from our hostel first thing so we’d be able to use them all day, and first stopped for breakfast near the university at my favorite bakery, Ihr Backshop. They’d renovated since I was last there, but the pastries are still just as delicious. After making a quick stop at the post office to buy stamps, we set out for our first destination of the morning: the Schönstatt shrine in Merzhausen!

I seriously wish I had visited the shrine more often when I actually lived in Freiburg! It’s in an absolutely beautiful location, and to be honest I was in a place mentally and spiritually back then that could seriously have benefitted from some more time spent chilling with the Blessed Mother. It was fun being back there and telling Felicitas a little bit about Schönstatt (not easy to do, but she was a great “student”). It was great to be able to re-center myself in a familiar place and hopefully receive some graces as I go through a huge transition in returning home and then moving again!

One fun bonus: there were blackberry brambles all over the place with ripe fruit!! While we were in Merzhausen we filled up a whole tupperware container with delicious blackberries, which we continued to refill throughout the day as we saw more bushes.

We cruised back into town, parked our bikes near the Augustiner (it’s a chore to walk them on cobblestone, and foot traffic was way too heavy to ride through the streets) and headed for the Münster and market, which we hadn’t yet seen!

We did a quick loop through the Münster, which was packed with tourists, before spending some time perusing the market. It’s absolutely insane to me how big the daily market is in Freiburg. Every day with dozens of stands selling fruit, vegetables, flowers, herbs, meat, spices, toys, souvenirs… It’s so lively and fun! I spotted a vendor with some tea that we loved when I brought it as a hostess gift to Krakow, so I bought a satchel of it to bring home 🙂

Euphrat had been so delicious the day before that we opted to eat there for lunch, this time ordering wraps to-go which we ate sitting along the Bächle.

We continued meandering through the streets, taking in the unique medieval-but-modern charm (and wondering to ourselves how it could be so different from Dresden, yet in the same country!), and I insisted that we stop at the Feierling brewery Biergarten. Felicitas doesn’t drink beer, so I ordered a solitary half-liter because I’m only in Germany for two more weeks and I need to enjoy it while I can! 😉

Hmm, sorry for all the indulgent pictures of myself… my blog, my rules.

With our time winding down until we had to fetch our things from the hostel and head to the train station to catch our bus, we headed again for the Dreisam. It was amazing to spend some time relaxing, wading in the shallow but frigid water, and enjoying the fact that nature and city can coexist so closely! It really is beautiful there.

The next thing we knew, we were on a bus to Strasbourg, and before long, we were standing in France! Against all odds, we made it to our hotel (we had a private room AND bathroom. LUXURY), changed and freshened up quickly, and walked to the famous Strasbourg cathedral for Saturday night vigil Mass.

Normally I highly endorse going to Mass at beautiful churches to avoid entrance fees and get the authentic experience, but in this case it was literally the only way that Felicitas and I were both going to make it to Mass. Mission accomplished! Luckily we had read the readings ahead of time so we kind of knew what was happening. We did get to have a little fun making up our own words to the Mass parts.

It turns out that things in Strasbourg are expensive, especially food. Luckily, we did happen to stumble upon a restaurant/brewery that was un-touristy enough to only have a French menu and seemed to mainly cater to students and young people. Ergo, affordable Alsatian food for all!

Flammkuchen and beer

Strasbourg is a beautiful city, you guys. I’d been there with my mom at the very beginning of my 2011 European adventures, but that was before I really became a conscientious traveler and I hardly remember anything except seeing the astronomical clock and dancing apostles at the cathedral (which, incidentally, was out of order this time due to construction). I don’t recall much else! But it’s gorgeous. Surrounded by a canal from the Rhine, the city has so many beautiful bridges which were even more gorgeous this time of year because of the flowers they’re decorated with!

Not to mention stunning gothic architecture and lots of German-style Fachwerk houses.

We got to see a lot of the city in the short time we had by taking a boat tour. It was a little oddly-paced, and at some points we were really low and couldn’t see much that the tour recording was telling us about. Regardless, it was a good choice because we got to see and learn so much in a short period of time.

A few quick facts (with not many accompanying photos because most of our tour was after nightfall and the photos I attempted to take were awful):

• Strasbourg is part of Alsace-Lorraine, the contested territory between France and Germany. It’s gone back and forth so much, but the truth is that it’s its own distinct region with aspects of French and German culture, architecture, language, etc.
• Strasbourg is the seat of the EU Capital, which I had no idea about until this weekend! We got to see all of the parliamentary and official buildings, which were stunningly modern and striking, especially at night!
• It is really awkward to sit in a tour boat both in front of and behind incredibly amorous couples.
• During the summer, they have light projection shows on the Vauban Barrage (one of the city’s important landmarks) and the cathedral. We got to catch both!

On Sunday morning, I walked Felicitas to the train station as she left for Wiesbaden and I bought my ticket to the airport for later that afternoon. I spent the rest of the day walking around and seeing parts of the town I hadn’t gotten to the day before, taking photos, getting caught in the rain, going inside to cafés and restaurants and paying too much money to avoid the rain, and writing postcards.

Here are some photo highlights!

On the water at dusk (that church is not the cathedral)

Before Mass shot! (That church is the cathedral)

Detail shot of the cathedral

The Covered Bridge, one of Strasbourg’s signature sites, once used as an armory. Cathedral in the background!

Casually donning an Alsacian costume and headdress

I would say something meaningful here about this being my last trip of the year, but I’m just as tired and burnt out writing about it as I was at the end of the actual trip. So I guess I’ll just include a little taste of my next destination….

pancakes and waffles and crepes (oh my): part 3, part 2, aka lots of thinking in paris

[Longest title ever! I challenge any forthcoming comic book movies to take this record from me!]

On Wednesday, we walked quickly down to the river to avoid the impending rain… but were only partially successful. We chose a path that took us past the Opera again, but this time down the high-end shopping street at Rue de la Paix and Place de Vendome… we fit right in in our rolled-up pants and rain gear!

We quickly enjoyed a stroll through the Tuileries Garden next to the Louvre, and then picked up the pace for another brisk walk along the river, this time to the Pont de l’Alma, home of the Museum of the Paris Sewers! I had had this on my list since my Greece conference, where a presenter had mentioned the wonderful sewer exhibit in Paris. And since I’m a water nerd and Laura is a chemical engineer, this was right up our alley — not to mention perfect for an incredibly rainy day. The museum was full of school children — several classes’ worth on field trips. One teacher we met had lived in the Woodlands and actually knew Sugar Land when we told her where we were from! Small world.

The sewers and sewer exhibit was fascinating. There was a mix of technical (seeing the various techniques, current and historical, used to clean and maintain the sewers), historical (learning about the development and growth of the Paris sewer and water system), hands-on (actually seeing black and greywater channels and pipes), and interdisciplinary aspects (a fascinating exhibit about the growth of Paris and the impact on the city’s sewer, waste, and environmental management development; as well as several homages to Les Miserables).

Valjean carries Marius through the sewer

I loved learning about Napoleon’s contributions to the wastewater system: at the beginning of his reign, one of the emperor’s ministers advised him to work on providing a stable source of clean water for Paris as a way to make a lasting impact on the city; later, in his last memoir, Napoleon acknowledged that his development of Paris’ sewer system had been his proudest accomplishment! He really knew what was up. I love learning about the pivotal role of water management to different civilizations, especially since most of us totally take it for granted. The people in power always know it’s important… it’s in the job description!

It was still raining after we’d finished our sewer tour–perfect museum weather–so we headed to the Army Museum next. We didn’t have much planned for that afternoon, so we speculated that we could afford to spend several hours there … and we did!! The museum covers a total of about 700 years, and it is all fascinating… particularly the narrative of the end of the 19th century and how European power grabs led to the First World War. That’s a time in history I don’t feel I’ve ever learned enough about.

The history of the building was also fascinating: it’s called the Hotel des Invalides, as it was built by Napoleon as a hostel/convalescent home for injured soldiers of the French army. It is absolutely gorgeous!

[a few nerdy asides. to carry you through this part, consider watching this in honor of the sewer tour-army museum combo]

It was fascinating to read about how Bismarck, the Prussian leader who helped to unite Germany after defeating France in the Franco-Prussian War, worked to prevent feuding alliances in Europe: if France and Russia became strong allies, and the Balkans still struggled to maintain peace after the Ottoman Empire broke up, Germany would be surrounded by turmoil and divided between its French border and its Russian border… inevitably fighting a war on two fronts. Once Bismarck died, the other European leaders disregarded his advice and what happened several decades later? A war on two fronts for Germany. And things just went downhill from there.

We were also able to walk ourselves through the history of the French Revolution a bit more during that part of the museum; I know a good bit from history and literature classes over the years, and I tried my best to explain to Laura the Engineer 😉 but some of those classes were a while ago now, so it was interesting to read about the different stages of Revolution as we progressed through the 18th and 19th centuries in the museum. It really makes you glad to be an American and thankful that our Revolution “took,” so to speak.

As we entered the Napoleon/imperial epoch, I was also taken by the apparent parallels between Napoleon and Hitler. Both took power during a turbulent time in their country’s history and used patriotism to gain the support of the people; both sought to conquer all of Europe, causing warfare and violence along the way, and met their downfall in Russia. Yet one is regarded ambivalently, as a powerful yet possibly oppressive emperor who did lots of good things for France but maybe could have cooled it with his ambitions of expansion, while the other is the most evil figure in modern history. I don’t want to defend Hitler, and obviously there are several dimensions of “human rights violation” and “racism” that set him apart from Napoleon, but the difference in PR between the two was intriguing to me as I noticed the parallels between them.

Finally, it was interesting and amusing to learn about the World Wars from a French perspective. There were several funny little quips that seemed to over-inflate the importance/adequacy of the French war effort… but maybe that was just our American bias 😉

[Nerdiness over]

Of course, the Army Museum is also the home of Napoleon’s tomb, so that was cool.

Once we finished at the museum, we were intellectually and physically exhausted – and our feet HURT. So we found a little café near the museum and treated ourselves to coffee and creme brulee… just the perfect indulgence for a rainy and museum-filled day!

Our second indulgence was an extra Metro ride. We had found a restaurant in the 13th Arr. that got rave reviews: it was supposed to have amazing food typical of the Basque region (near Spain) at a student-friendly budget. So we splurged and were rewarded for our risk, because the restaurant was amazing. We both had duck, because we figured we’d go for the option that isn’t typically found in the US. Mine was served with a Rocquefort cheese sauce, which I had had in Spain when I was there and really loved. It was delightful in France, as well! 🙂 My mouth is watering just thinking about it. We also enjoyed some delicious wine. The restaurant got really busy shortly after we arrived, so they seated another guest at our table, and it was really interesting talking to him. He was from Israel, an animation student a bit older than us, and it was cool to talk to him about his travels and his opinions about animated movies. He listed Sleeping Beauty as one of his favorites, which made me proud of my taste in Disney, since that is one of the best in my opinion!

Back at the hostel, we enjoyed more chocolates and Friends episodes after planning our excursion for the next day… a trip to Versailles!!

When I went to Versailles with my family in 2001, the biggest story of the trip was me getting lost on the Metro on the way back. All I wanted from this trip was for it to be less eventful and I think we accomplished that! It was raining — of course — when we arrived, but my free entry to the palace made me feel better about the terrible weather! The palace is magnificent of course… we paced ourselves a bit oddly, spending a lot of time in the exhibit at the beginning talking about the history of the palace, which kings built which parts, when different renovations were done, etc etc. Which is interesting and all, but… you will never find a museum talking about my landscaping decisions at my vacation house. And that’s all I’m saying.

So maybe I was a bit tired out from that, but nevertheless the furnished parts of the palace are gorgeous! I guess I was surprised at how heavily Greek and Roman mythology themes figured into the decor, but the idea of decorating one’s home allegorically is fascinating! It was interesting that the audio guide didn’t mention the Treaty of Versailles at all in the Hall of Mirrors, but I knew about it anyway so I suppose I win. Do I sound jaded? I’m sorry. I sound totally jaded. I would use the excuse of “but I’ve just been to SOOO many royal palaces in Europe… Munich, Würzburg, Vienna… how is one supposed to have energy for them all?” but come on. Worst problem ever. 😉 Maybe I just had museum fatigue at the end of a jam-packed week in Paris!

The good news is that by the time we had finished with our tour of the palace, the sun had come out!! So we were able to walk through the gardens with blue skies overhead. That was just wonderful. The gardens are just massive!! And the mythology tropes persist in the decor (the fountains and the naming of things and such). It was so nice to celebrate the return of the sun in such a gorgeous location.

We took a little walk through the town of Versailles after leaving the gardens… we got a coffee at a little café and I went to buy stamps for my postcards and we even saw the architecture school where my Aunt Mary Beth, blog commenter extraordinaire, spent a year during college! I hadn’t really thought of Versailles being a “town” outside of the palace (though I knew that it was) but it seemed like a cute little place. I’m sure the locals are tired of palace tourists, though!

On our way back to the hostel, we grabbed some pastries we’d had our eyes on all week, which we then ate during a quick siesta. Our plan was to spend the evening in Montmartre, which we hadn’t seen much of outside of our hostel and the Metro station. So after a little rest, we headed up to Sacre Coeur, which is up a deceptively high hill!! It is absolutely gorgeous. Just totally striking.

We decided on a whim to climb up to the top of the Dome, which was incredible. You already have a great view of the city (sans the Eiffel Tower) from the overlook at the foot of the church, and from the Dome you can see EVERYTHING! It was just gorgeous.

 

We descended just in time for Mass, which was beautiful. There are (Augustinian? Benedictine? I think Benedictine) sisters who live at the convent next door and they sang Evening prayer and at Mass. It’s interesting to go to Mass in a language you don’t understand… on the one hand, you could use it as an excuse to zone out, but on the other hand, it can be an opportunity to deepen your prayer because you have to really concentrate on what is going on, and in the end it’s your belief in what actually happens at the Mass that determines your experience… that doesn’t depend on the language at all!

Anyway, we finally got our crepe fix after Mass when I spotted a little creperie on our descent from Sacre Coeur. It was really delicious… especially the very simple lemon crepe we had for dessert.

Afterwards, we went on a little stroll through the neighborhood looking at souvenirs and ended up at Moulin Rouge, our last sight of the week. We didn’t see a show or anything; we just wanted to see what all the fuss was about from the outside. We spotted some mini horses being brought in, ostensibly for that evening’s show! Then, after an awkward walk through the red light/sketchy district full of sex shops and burlesque clubs, we made it back home and called it an early night…. since we both had very early trains/flights in the morning!

It’s already been 2 weeks since I got back from Paris and I am really nostalgic for the time Laura and I spent there. It was such a lovely week seeing lovely sights in the best company… the city is so full of life, there’s so much to discover, and everything is so pretty… even when it’s kind of ugly. I really do think I could live in Paris (but maybe just short-term), a distinction I’ve only awarded to a few cities I’ve visited. I do hope I get to return someday 🙂

pancakes and waffles and crepes (oh my): part 3

Laura’s and my last stop on our trip together was Paris. I insisted on this once I realized how close Bruges and Paris are. I had been there when I was 10 with my family, but somehow that was 13 years ago (!) and what could beat a trip to Paris in May with your best friend? It turns out, not much. Laura was unsure how she would like the city, saying that it seemed to her most people either love or hate it… and she didn’t know which category she’d fall into. But by the end of the week, we were both hooked!

The start of our stay, however, was less than auspicious. Laura had a Eurail pass for her 3 weeks in Europe, and she learned early on that the pass isn’t quite as easy and foolproof as they make it out to be, and she would need to reserve a seat in many cases (and pay extra for the reservation in most cases, blah). So we checked on a train out of Paris once we arrived, only to find that there weren’t any Eurail options!! Nightmare. I convinced her to forget about it for the time being (promising to dedicate our evening internet time to figuring out a solution, of course) in order to enjoy our first afternoon in Paris.

Then we got to our hostel and the lock to our room was broken, which was also just wonderful but thankfully got resolved relatively quickly…. and we were off!!! Eventually. We also had issues with the Metro system, because the machine wouldn’t accept my debit card to buy tickets, and Laura’s Eurail pass would clearly not suffice as a ticket as she had hoped. SO we were forced into the best decision of the week: forget the Metro and just walk everywhere!! We were staying in/near Montmartre in the 9th Arrondissement (my favorite French word btw), a few blocks south of Sacre Coeur, aka really far north, but the walk to the river and all the good stuff only took about 35 minutes… plus we got to see some really great stuff along the way! We took a different route every time.

I think this may come in handy for orientation…

This first walk took us straight to the Louvre!! It was such a rush to be there–honestly it felt surreal. I remembered going to the Louvre in 2001, and it was crazy to be somewhere “familiar” but feel like I’m living a different life now, on my second visit. How different I am now at 23 than I was at 10! And of course actually seeing the big, gorgeous palace-turned-museum and the famous pyramids and arch and gardens and our first view of the Eiffel Tower! It was all surreal and thrilling. So, it’s good to know that my 9 months (!) in Europe haven’t turned me into a jaded asshole, at least 🙂

From the Louvre we walked to Notre Dame–our goal had been to make it there by the time it closed and we did, by an hour! Just enough time to make the full rounds of all the side chapels and pray Evening Prayer there at the church — of course all in French, but absolutely beautiful nonetheless. In a different, less-rushed world, we would have stayed for Mass afterwards, but we had more to accomplish, so we bowed out. After a walk around the church to check out the Flying Buttresses, we made our way to the Parthenon and Sorbonne/Latin Quarter area.

It was awesome having a lot of little prayerful experiences throughout the trip. Later on Monday, after Evening Prayer at Notre Dame, we stopped in at St. Germaine on our way to the Eiffel Tower where they were having Adoration… attended by a surprising/inspiring number of young people!

 

The Parthenon is unfortunately under construction, but we enjoyed walking around and imagining actually being a university student in Paris–inconceivable! We bought a cheap bottle of wine (we both prefer white but the only twist-top bottle was red, so we made do), some fruit and cheese, and set out for our next destination: Luxembourg Gardens, another of the very few places I have memories of from my last trip to Paris. It was really hot by this point so we sat in the shade to enjoy our nectarines and views of the park.

We had ambitions of making it to the Eiffel Tower by sunset to sit on the lawn and enjoy the evening view while drinking wine, so at this point (probably about 7:30?) we decided we should start walking. We lamented that the walk would probably take “another 30 minutes” (soooo long). We were at Jardin du Luxembourg and wanted to make it to Tour Eiffel (see map) by walking along the Seine… and we were in for an epic journey, because in the end the walk took probably an hour and 15 minutes at least. Now, looking at the map, we could have made a really quick trip of it by taking a direct route through 6 and 7,  but we did get to see a remarkable number of sights from the outside, including the Louvre (again), the Musee d’Orsay, Alexander Bridge, and Hotel des Invalides/Army Museum, before making it to the Eiffel Tower… right at sunset! It was a long walk but we timed it so perfectly.

At the Alexander Bridge. This day was the “test run” for my chambray + dress outfit and I think it’s a keeper

After taking a gratuitous number of photos, we settled in on the lawn, poured ourselves some wine in plastic cups (always classy) and watched the sky get darker and the Tower eventually light up! There was a bit of excitement near us when a man snatched an (American) girl’s phone, another lady saw him do it, and all the guys selling wine and champagne and whatever dropped their wares and chased the thief down, and then apparently proceeded to beat up on him. Then they carried him out and the girl got her phone back… it was a very interesting study of human behavior… but anyway, the sun set, the tower lit up beautifully, and were treated to a bit of a light show because they made the tower sparkle with flashing lights!! It was beautiful and perfect. I think if I had only 1 day in Paris (really only half a day) and I spent it like this, I would be totally content with my life. We took the Metro back to our hostel after committing ourselves to riding only once per day–a savings of about 5 euro per day!

Day 2 started at the train station buying Laura a ticket to Bacharach by way of Cologne for Friday (screw you, Eurail, why are you so complicated and expensive??), but after that little nuisance, we once again walked to the river, this time by way of the Opera, La Madeleine (the original! Aka a gorgeous church dedicated to Mary Magdelene), and the Place de Concorde.

I thought the Opera was gorgeous… one of the many benefits of not relying on the Metro was finding hidden gems we wouldn’t have otherwise seen!

[I wish I could show you everything but my data storage is reaching its limit and I only have so much time!! Plus I took over 300 pictures in Paris alone… how to choose!]

At this point, we took a little detour at the Petit Palais, which we had read we could get into for free. It was nice, but I didn’t have much patience for art museums… plus, the most interesting-sounding exhibit (a display of Paris in 1900!) had an entrance fee and a long line. But the building was gorgeous, and after a short stop we were on our way down Champs d’Elysees towards the Arc de Triomphe.

About halfway, it started POURING!! right as we got hungry, so we opened my umbrella, sat on a bench, and chowed down on baguettes, hummus, and nectarines. When it finally stopped, we kept walking to the Arc, finally figured out how to cross the street to get to it (underground of course!), and escaped from more rain under its protection while eating eclairs. It was a very Parisian experience, albeit a bit stereotypical 🙂

Besides our partial Metro boycott, our other saving grace budget-wise in Paris was buying grocery store food to eat on the go… baguettes, cheese, hummus, fruit… occasionally we treated ourselves to pastries as a reward for our frugality!!

The next object on our agenda was a visit to the Musee d’Orsay, which is located in an old train station and houses art from the 19th and 20th centuries. We picked it, at the recommendation of a few trustworthy people, over the Louvre for our Paris art museum experience… and it paid off! It was also a score that I, as an EU resident under 26, could get in for free! [On this basis, we also resolved to see the Army Museum, which we passed on the way, the next day. It was free for me and a good enough value for Laura that, especially because of the rain, we thought it would be worth it.]

Orsay was a bit of an overwhelming experience, and I can’t even imagine how crazy the Louvre would be in terms of wanting to see everything but not having enough time! I loved seeing the Impressionists’ and Post-Impressionists’ work, and also tracking societal change through the decades as styles and subjects evolved. We spent a good 2-2.5 hours there, and stayed until closing, and still felt we’d had to rush at some parts!! Definitely worth it but plan on spending a LONG time there!

We’d found a creperie we wanted to try between the Army Museum and Eiffel Tower, but when we got there it was closed between lunch and dinner and given that it was still raining…. we settled for a little cafe/brewery-type place nearby and enjoyed some French food (quiche for me, duck for Laura) and a bit of respite from the rain. It was a really good thing we’d pushed through to make it to the Eiffel Tower that first night, as it would rain for basically the rest of our stay. After our daily metro ride back to Montmartre, we dried off, got in our pajamas, and drank wine and ate chocolate while watching Friends episodes which I am eternally grateful that I have on my computer! They have served me well during my travels.

[This post got really long really quickly. Part 2 of Part 3 to follow!]

dormition?

We took the train to Colmar, France, today. It was pretty rainy, so we decided to go to the Unterlinden Museum so we could spend some time inside. Which was a good idea in theory, but we didn’t factor in a 35 minute detour of walking, lost, around the entire city in the rain.

The museum was fantastic. It was mostly Catholic art from the early Church and the late middle Ages, prominently featuring a number of artists from the Alsace-Lorraine area. The main attraction was a huge room devoted to the Isenheim Altarpiece, which was unlike anything I’d ever seen before!

One really striking thing that my mom and I both noticed was the recurrence of this image, or images like it, depicting the “dormition of Mary,” or Mary’s deathbed.

In these images, Mary is always surrounded by the apostles. Christ is generally seen in the heavens, accompanied by a child representing Mary's soul.

The first time we saw it, in St. Leodegar’s in Luzern, we had no idea what we were even looking at. Then, it just kept coming up at the museum today! Luckily, the handy museum tour headset thing was kind enough to tell us what the heck it was… Mary’s dormition, where according to tradition the apostles all came together to comfort Mary as she died. (Apparently they were “carried on clouds from all over the earth…” a cooler image than my mom’s projection that they all just texted each other.)

Then, I came back to the hotel room and ran a Google search and came up with this: “In Byzantine icons and Western medieval art, the most common deathbed scene is that of the Virgin Mary.”

Um, WHAT? I have never heard of this or seen an image like this in my whole life! And neither has my mother! And, to use her words, she’s “been Catholic for a long time”! And we go to museums quite often, too! Are we just the only Catholics who haven’t been informed of this artistic phenomenon?!?! Help me out here, Catholic friends!