Palais des Papes

By -
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 are.  The rooms also had these dais that prompted audio too.

It also has games built in!

I am spending time on the audio guide because without this, the museum isn't  much too look at.  A number of the relics have been since removed to Rome (or elsewhere).  The iPad gives a view into what the palace looked like before renovations, fully furnished and at its finest.  

 Some beautiful paintings still exist in the chapel, but most other furnishings are gone.  



We spent a lot of time in the palais.  I really liked seeing the treasury.  This room once held fortunes in coin, sacred items, gems.  

 The views from the top were also really beautiful.  


A beautiful visit!  

 Time in museum: 3 hrs
Times visited: 1
Overall: A-
Location: Place du Palais, 84000 Avignon, France

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

detroit institute of arts

By -
i went to the detroit institute of arts museum to see the rembrandt and the face of jesus exhibit.  it was really great. we bought tickets online the night before to reserve our viewing time.  our biggest gripe about the entire experience was the $3.50 "convenience fee" that was tacked onto each ticket purchased.  the ticket price was $16, so this "convenience fee" was almost 22% of the ticket price.  at this point, purchasing tickets online is cheaper for the museum since they do not have to employee someone to speak to me and they don't even have to print the ticket!  if they are really counting on this fee, just roll it into my admission price please; it would make me a little less grumpy while still getting the same amount of money out of me! we arrived a little early to the exhibit, which ended up being a good move since they had completely sold the exhibit out for the day.  they let people into the exhibit in batches, so it was fine that we got ther
Read more

neue gallery

By -
i went to the neue gallery with my college sister. i had wanted to go for a while. the first time i wanted to go, there was a line out the door and i ended up going to the whitney instead. i found out later it was one of the first weekends for a new exhibit. well, this time we went, unbeknownst to us, but a new exhibit on klimt was opening the weekend we were there as well. we were able to get in no problems, but as we were leaving we noticed that a line (again) out the door had developed. the museum itself is quite small, which i think causes this out the door problem. we really enjoyed the museum. it was just about the right size and pretty easy to navigate. they limit the number of people in it because it just would get to hard to move. the klimt exhibit itself was quite nice. my sister knew a lot more about klimt than i did. i recognized some of the paintings, but my sister knew much more about his background. the museum did a nice job putting the exhibit together
Read more

metropolitan museum of art

By -
i went to the metropolitan museum of art today to see the art of the samurai: japanese arms and armor, 1156-1868 . this exhibit was in the typical special exhibit location....second floor to the left passing through the marble statues. the exhibit was fantastic. as described in the introduction to the exhibit, it is the most comprehensive exhibit ever devoted to samurai art. most of the art were designated as "national treasure" and "important cultural property." i found quite a few of the items on the wikipedia page for japanese national treasures . the exhibit had a number of swords, sword mountings and armor. a number of the items (~60) will be switched out in the next week with new items. most of the items cannot handle light for such long periods. some of the armor was fantastic, in particular one. this particular armor was replicated 100 years later for a child in the same family. this helmet was absolutely fantastic. i cannot believe that i spent
Read more