Museum Hopper

Our first stop in Monaco was to head up to where the royal family lives, the Palace State Apartments .  We got up there a little earlier than the palace opens.  It turns out that our phones with our Europe sim cards did not work in Monaco, so we were navigating “data” blind. We walked around the top of Monaco while we waited for the palace to open.  I recommend getting to the museum either right before it opens (so that you are first one in) OR come solidly after opening.  We squeezed in right before three (seemingly) huge tour groups.  The museum did give us audio guides.  They were very thorough audio recordings.  They also had the most awesome pronunciation of Monaco – something like maaan-a-co.  The recordings covered lots of details about the room.  Like the details about artist.  We get to go through ten-ish rooms of the palace.  No photographs.  They had some paintings of Princess Grace Kelly and her kids.  It was interesting to see her emphasized in the country. 

I have been somewhat dreading writing this post since there are so many things we could talk about here.  That being said, I was really looking forward to seeing the Sagrada Familia .   We definitely bought tickets in advance.  The tickets we selected were the "top view," which included an audio guide and a visit to the towers.  We selected the birth facade as it has better views. We picked our tickets up on the nativity side. To get to the tower, you take an elevator up and walk the stairs down.  We spent about 30 minutes in the tower.   It was a beautiful view of the city. We then spent about two hrs in the rest of the basilica.  The tour starts outside with a history about the church and Gaudi .  This was Gaudi's final work.  He started on it in taking over in the first few years of construction.  He ended up dropping all other construction to focus solely on this project.  He ended up moving close the basilica and worked on it until the day he died

This post is probably going to be rather short!  We went to the Castle de Montjuic .  I will admit that I heard the name and definitely thought we were headed to an actual castle.  It was definitely a prison / jail!   The main part of the jail is not open.  The main courtyard has some galleries.  We headed up to the roof, which had a beautiful view of Barcelona.   The museum was not very expensive to get into, so probably worth it for the views from the top.  I was a little anxious about the sun at this point! While we were there, the gallery showed scenes from the Spanish revolution.  An artist had also gone to as many of the execution sites and taken photographs of the burial sites.  It was rooms of these photographs.   Time in fortress: 45 minutes Times visited: 1 Overall: B

  One of the key places, we had to visit on the trip was Monaco, home of the Monaco Grand Prix.  And with that, when in Monaco, we had to visit the Car Collection of the Prince .  This was recommended on a number of websites, but I was a little apprehensive as to what to expect.   It is a little off the beaten path in Monaco (and our data plan didn't work in Monaco!)  It was one huge room.  It was not very busy either, which was rare in Monaco and on our trip overall.  I was surprised! We did buy tickets in advance as group ticket that included the royal apartments.  I think we got a slight discount buying them together; otherwise, you really did not need to buy this ticket in advance.   It truly is a private, eclectic collection.  It ranged from early cars to high performance super cars to truly quirky and unique cars.  The cars arranged chronologically.   Take this car for example -- Jason said he has never seen it before in this color, strawberry red, which they made o

On our first day in Barcelona, we decided to go to the Museu d'Historia de Barcelona .   It was much more extensive than I expected!  We bought tickets at the museum.   The museum allows visitors to see the Roman ruins, which were discovered under modern Barcelona.  They predict that Barcelona is over 25 feet higher today than it was when the Romans occupied it (similar to the statistic for modern Rome).  It covers decent ground, so not small.   They have uncovered all different buildings that existed including a wine storage facility, laundry, homes and even a temple.   Beautiful mosaic floors The audio guide was well done for this museum.   This was a great museum to set the tone for our visit to Barcelona.  We started in the early quarters and could see the build-up of Barcelona from here. Times visited: 1 Time in museum: 1.5 hrs Overall: A-

We went to the Palais des Papes  when our boat ported in Marseilles for the day.  We had original planned on biking through Provence using Aix en Provence, but given it was Sunday, we were unable to find bikes to rent!  We ended up changing course and deciding to go to the Papal Palace in Avignon.  It is one of the top 10 tourist sites in France.   We bought tickets to the Palais in advance.  We booked the ticket for both the palace and the bridge.  Interestingly enough the ticket gets booked through a central site for all of Avignon, which I'll admit I found a little confusing.   We took the train in and when you walk out of the train station, the palace is about 15 minute walk straight out of the main train station.   With the prepaid tickets, we walked right up and were admitted into the museum.  We also took the virtual media guides.  They are basically iPads with audio.  They sense where they are in the palais.  It provides the route and audio depending on where you

I am going to merge two different visits to the Cincinnati Art Museum into one blog post as they were distinct and well, I have been to this museum a LOT.   I went a few weeks ago to visit the new exhibit, Make Way for Ducklings: The Art of Robert McCloskey.   Robert McCloskey was a Cincinnati writer and artist for won multiple Caldecott medals and honors.  He often drew on experiences and local stories for the basis for his children's books.  Growing up, we used to read Make Way for Ducklings , which won the Caldecott based on the story of ducks in Boston Commons.  I love seeing how the sketches develop into the final illustration.  They evolve similarly to how a powerpoint deck evolves.  Tweaks here and there with sometimes a massive overhaul.  It was interesting to see how they changes the pictures to make them more engaging for the audience.  The versions comparing color vs. black and white also were interesting to see the emphasis and changes to the design.

We went to El Museo Naval before leaving Madrid.  My mother thought Jason would really like it.  It was a couple of blocks from our hotel and only a few euro.  For that, I do really recommend trying to get to this museum. They have so many items in this museum.  I wish it was a little more tailored and edited.  Unfortunately while we there as well, the captain's room/quarters was under construction.  The early map of the Americas is a wonderful sight to behold.   The ceiling is beautiful.  They were under repair last time, so I appreciated seeing them complete.  They are also HUGE.  I have no idea how they stay up there. They had a new exhibit as well about the navy's recent investments, particularly in their non-ships, so this one focused on the helicopters and airplanes.  The exhibit had audio available using the free wi-fi in the museum.  Very smartly done and allowed minimal investment in audio headset, etc. They were also able to provide many languages this

Oh, the Prado !  Jason and I went together with it being my second trip, but Jason's first trip.  It was magnificent.   We covered solid ground! This time, though, we were able to see the el Bosco/Bosch.  The last time I was there, the Prado had a special exhibit for his works, so they hda been pulled from the general museum.  The work,  the Garden of Earthly Delights  is just fascinating to look at.  Every new nook and cranny you focus on is engaging and interesting.  Even the back is painted.  It must have been quite controversial when it was first unveiled.   I just love Las Meninas , so much that I took so many pictures with the city statues with the Infanta! The other paintings by Diego Valazquez are literally the paintings you see of the Spanish royalty in the history books.  It is amazing to see them in person and realize that he was with these famous people.  The connection if you think of it really shakes the mind. Time in museum: 3 hrs Times visited: 2