Chartres provides a pleasant half-day excursion (or even a full day in the summer). It's only a 90 minute train ride from Paris, and it would be faster if there weren't so many stops along the way. It's also relatively small compared to other cities in northern France, so there's much less walking involved when travelling from one site to the next. This came in handy because a lot of sites would close for an hour or so in the middle of the day, leading me to skip one place and then loop back to it later in the day.
The city is best known for Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a somewhat more ornate version of the other Gothic cathedrals in northern France.
The exterior of Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres. Two of the other sides of the building also have similar entranceways with Gothic sculptures surrounding three large doors.
Behind the main altar is a large sculpture of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Above are some of the many stained glass windows encircling the cathedral.
The Centre International du Vitrail (International Stained-Glass Center) is separate from the cathedral, but one of its rooms is an excellent complement to the cathedral as it includes a description of each of its stained glass windows. Each window tells a story of the life of a saint, a French king or an excerpt from the Bible.
The one mistake I made in visiting Chartres in March is that it was still too early in the season to visit La Maison Picassiette, which is a house covered in mosaic art. The house doesn't open until April, so I focused on the historic preservation area of the city and some other tourist sites (mostly religious). While the historic centre didn't have a lot of notable buildings, the area in its entirety had much more authenticity than other French cities like Rouen or Reims, as the latter two felt like modern cities with a few buildings quickly painted to look medieval.
On the right is the Escalier de la Reine Berthe. This is a staircase built in the 16th century. I didn't find out until later that the staircase leads to a restaurant selling overpriced dishes to tourists, but it must have been closed for the off-season during my visit.
The Eglise Saint-Aignan is a small church, but the advantage to this is that its stained glass windows are at eye level. This is the chapel and two windows located behind the main altar.
The Eglise Saint-Pierre is a larger church. I'm gaining the impression that every city in northern France was originally built around a large cathedral, with a secondary cathedral or abbey built on the outskirts of the city centre. I think that for Chartres, this church would have represented that type of cathedral/abbey. It also has a high window-to-wall ratio, so it was very well lit, even on a cloudy day.
The Eure is a small river that splits in two and runs through the historic preservation area. In the distance you can see the towers of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame.
I went to the Chappelle Saint-Aman expecting a small church but it turns out the building has been converted into a small art exhibition. It could only fit about 10 works, all of which were mosaics by Jeroen Meijer. Pictured is his work, High Fidelity, which includes Saint Anthony, the patron saint of lost items (such as the keys that were used to depict the candles).
One of the more notable landmarks in Chartres is the Jean Moulin Monument. Moulin was part of the French Resistance during World War II.
The Parc Andre Gagnon is not the largest park in the city, but it is the closest to the main sites. The cathedral towers are ever-present in the city.
Easter weekend is coming up and I have another trip planned. Details to be posted in two weeks.
There are still a few popular travel destinations that I have yet to visit in Europe and one of them was Amsterdam. The city is easily accessible via high speed train from Paris, but the main reason that I hadn't visited Amsterdam until now was that I was trying to attend both a Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra performance and an AFC Ajax match on the same weekend. It turns out that having the two perform in the same city on the same weekend only happens two or three times a year. Maybe I should write them both and convince them of the need to coordinate their scheduling. (I'm kidding, but I did see someone wearing an Ajax jersey at the Concertgebouw, so I'm not the only one who looks to attend both events.)
I planned this trip to occur over three days (effectively two days with train scheduling), which worked out well given the long lineups at major sites during the weekend.
Day 1
I took a Saturday morning train from Paris, so I arrived around in Amsterdam around noon and started wandering around the city center. Even for mid-March, the city center felt very crowded with tourist traffic. Travel season is already starting in Europe. Heading south from the train station took me past the Oude Kerk (which I did not enter) and the Royal Palace.
Behind the Oude Kerk (on the left) is a canal running along Oudezijds Voorburgwal. In the distance is St. Nicholas Church.
On one side of Dam Square is the National Monument, built in 1956 as a World War II monument. The Royal Palace faces the opposite direction on the other side.
The Burgerzaal (Citizen's Hall) in the Royal Palace. Around this hall are various salons and courtrooms that are well-designed but modestly decorated compared to their counterparts in Madrid, Versailles or Stockholm (but also more practical).
On the way to my hotel, I passed through the Rembrandtplein and then by a canal every one or two blocks. With the abundance of canals, I could see why Amsterdam is often referred to as the "Venice of the North" (although several other cities also have this label).
In Rembrandtplein (Rembrandt Square). The tall statue is a monument to Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn while the sculptures in front are a 3D representation of the figures from one of his famous paintings, the Night Watch (sculpted by Mikhail Dronov and Alexander Taratynov).
By late afternoon, most of the museums were closing, so I went to the Heineken Brewery to take the tour. However, the lineup to buy tickets stretched around the building and was an estimated one hour wait. Doh! I should have bought tickets in advance. Fortunately, the brewery was open late, so I was able to walk over to Vondelpark and look around before looping back to the brewery before it closed.
Vondelpark is a very large park containing a rose garden, two dog parks, an open air theater and various ponds (or perhaps the ponds were all part of one continuous canal). The eastern side is busy with both local and tourist traffic from the nearby Museumplein area, but the park is much more tranquil as you head further west.
Hey, look at me, I'm brewing! The Heineken Experience offers a tour of the brewery (with samples at the end) as well as various fun/game activities, including a photo booth where you can make your own digital postcard. I'm superimposed in a mash tun where the water and barley are mixed.
I spent the evening looking around the red light district. It was too dark to take any photos but the area looks just like what you'd see from a Google image search. Like during the day, there was a lot of tourist traffic in the area for sightseeing. In fact, there were several walking tour groups operating (and causing a few pedestrian traffic jams). What surprised me was that while the atmosphere of the neighbourhood and the prostitutes behind the glass doors seemed casual, it was actually a lot of the tourists who gave off an unseemly vibe (the same vibe I get in Mexico when I'm surrounded by younger Canadian/American tourists who just want to get drunk and lay on the beach everyday). There were even a few tourists (mostly English and Irish) who would taunt or hassle the prostitutes for fun. Well, at least now I know where the low-brow tourists go in Europe.
Day 2
My plan was to start the day by visiting the Anne Frank House. The museum opens at 9am, so I arrived there at 9am, only to find a lineup winding all the way around the block with an estimated 90 minute wait. Doh! I should have bought tickets in advance or arrived earlier. Since I was in the area, I decided to look around the Jordaan neighbourhood before heading to the Museumplein area where the Concertgebouw Orchestra would be performing in the afternoon.
The Prinsengracht in the Jordaan neighbourhood of Amsterdam. It would be even more scenic during the warmer months when the trees are in bloom.
The Museumplein is surrounded by three museums as well as the Concertgebouw (Concert Hall). I figured the Rijksmuseum was too large to visit before the concert, so I went to the Van Gogh Museum instead, only to find another long lineup with an estimated one hour wait. What the...?! Did everyone decide to visit Amsterdam this weekend and see the exact same sites that I was visiting? I settled on visiting the Stedelijk Museum, which wasn't even on my to-do list, but it was just next door and small enough to fit within my timetable.
The Stedelijk Museum is a municipal museum for contemporary art. In addition to paintings and sculptures, it contains various exhibits on graphic design, industrial design and photography. Pictured is Painting with Houses, by Wassily Kandinsky.
If you remember from my blog post regarding Vienna, there are three symphony orchestras that stand out among the best in the world, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is one of them. In trying to see them on the same weekend as Ajax, I was limited in the concert I could see. Fortunately, this concert featured a great violin concerto by Bach (BWV 1041) as well as Brahms' Symphony No. 3. Unfortunately, the performance was a family concert, so it included dancers who would lead the children in the audience on how to dance to each composition. Nevertheless, the orchestra put on a great performance.
The interior of the Royal Concertgebouw after a performance by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Photography and video recording was not allowed during the concert, but it turns out that someone uploaded an official video of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra from three years ago performing the same violin concerto with the same lead violinist that I saw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp8WtfCsKSE. The main difference is that the concert that I watched also had a conductor, as well as children dancing among the audience. You'll need good speakers to hear the full sound of the orchestra, particularly the lower register of the cellos and the higher register of the harpsichord.
After the concert, I walked east towards the nearest subway station so that I could get to the football stadium. I passed through Sarphatipark, a small city park which was greener and more serene than Vondelpark.
A shot of the pond in Sarphatipark.
The football contest featured a Dutch Eredivisie match between AFC Ajax and NEC (Nijmegen Eendracht Combinatie). The home crowd for Ajax had a relatively small group of active supporters, so while there was non-stop chanting during the match, it wasn't as loud as in other major venues.
The interior of Amsterdam ArenA during a match between AFC Ajax and NEC. In the opposite corner is the visitor's section which was sparsely filled by NEC fans.
Ajax held possession for most of the match and for the first 80 minutes (2-1 for Ajax) it was one of the cleanest matches I had ever seen (very few fouls, no diving, no fake injuries, no complaining to the ref). However, at 82 minutes, NEC scored a tying goal and suddenly the game turned sour, with overly aggressive play, a few dives and a lot of arguing with the ref. Ajax is one of the perennial leaders in the Eredivisie, so both the players and the fans were frustrated by the 2-2 draw, but possession doesn't count for anything unless it's converted into goals.
Day 3
I learned my lesson from yesterday and arrived at the Anne Frank House at 8am. This got me fourth in line with a long line quickly forming behind me by 8:15. The house itself is modest by design: Anne Frank's father insisted that the furniture that had been removed should not be replaced. However, it was still informative to see the rooms where the Frank family hid for over two years. Adjacent to the house is a museum which also provides interesting background information and which displays the original diary in which Anne wrote her entries.
In the Anne Frank House, pictured is a reconstruction of the movable bookshelf used to hide the entrance to the secret apartment where the Frank family hid from July 1942 to August 1944.
Next to the Anne Frank House is the Westerkerk. Like most Protestant churches, the interior is modestly decorated compared to Catholic churches. .
I had reserved the third day (a Monday) to visit the Rijksmuseum, expecting that it could take me all day to see the exhibits, but it took less time than expected. The Rijksmuseum contains both Dutch art and historical items, and I usually work through the history exhibits at a faster pace.
At the Museumplein, the Rijksmuseum is housed in an impressive building constructed in the 1880's. Between the pond and the building are ten foot high letters spelling "I AMsterdam", with tourists climbing on them every which way to have their photos taken.
The Rijksmuseum is a very large museum containing a wide variety of Dutch artwork and historical items. The Gallery of Honour contains several masterpieces by the Netherlands' most famous artists, including Rembrandt and Vermeer. Pictured is The Milkmaid by Johannes Vermeer.
Since the Van Gogh Museum is right next door to the Rijksmuseum, I figured I'd at least check to see if I could make a quick visit before my train left. It turned out that there was no lineup at all. The weekend tourist crowd had disappeared on Monday, so I was able to get in right away.
The Van Gogh Museum is a somewhat small museum and I was surprised that a large part of its collection is comprised of artwork that either influenced the painter or that he owned after exchanging his own artwork with his contemporaries. The art collection is presented in a sequence that tells the story of his life and his progression as an artist. Pictured is Self-Portrait as a Painter (1887-1888) by Vincent van Gogh. Photos were not allowed in most of the museum so I couldn't get a shot of his more famous works.
So that was Amsterdam in two days spread over three. I felt I could have squeezed more in if I had planned for the long lineups at the major sites, but I still managed to see all of the items at the top of my to-do list. If I had another day, I would have tried to visit the Rembrandt Museum and the Amstel Brewery, but I think I got my fill of Dutch art and beer on this trip.
The city felt a bit like Barcelona in that it had both the younger tourists that were there for the night life and the trendy sites (red light district, Heineken Experience) and the older tourists that were there for the arts/culture sites (Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank House). At some point during the three days, I also walked through the Bloemenmarkt, a market where tulips, bulbs and other related items are sold, but I couldn't figure out good products from bad.
One tip... if you plan to visit Amsterdam during the weekend, then buy your tickets in advance!
I'm behind on my posts as I've already visited another French town since Amsterdam, so I'll try to post some details later this week.
I had originally planned any visit to Ljubljana, Slovenia as part of a longer trip where I'd be either taking an excursion from Venice and/or doing a multi-city tour involving Zagreb or some other city in the general vicinity. However, after looking into the various options, a simple trip to Ljubljana ended up being a better use of my time. Travel between Venice and Ljubljana is slow and cumbersome, meaning I'd probably burn a vacation day just moving from one city to the other, and Zagreb doesn't have enough appeal for me (assuming I visit a more compelling Croatian city like Dubrovnik at some point in my life). Anyways, for this weekend trip I still managed to squeeze in an excursion to an interesting resort town in Slovenia (Bled) without it taking too much time.
Day 1
I arrived in Ljubljana in the late afternoon, so I had enough time to check out a few sites around my hotel. On the northwestern side of the city is Tivoli Park, a large public park containing an art gallery, sports arena, pond and various sculptures.
In Tivoli Park, the Jakopic Promenade leading to Tivoli Castle was lined with various photographs of Slovenia. Tivoli Castle houses the International Centre of Graphic Arts, although it was near closing time when I arrived but the photos on the walkway made up for that.
Across the street from Tivoli Park is Saints Cyril and Methodius Church. Unlike the mostly Catholic churches in the area, the interior was like the Eastern Orthodox churches that I saw in Kiev, where there are very few pews and most worshippers will stand during mass. The walls were beautifully decorated with murals but there was not enough natural light shining through the windows so my photos turned out a bit dark.
Ljubljana is close enough to the Alps that I felt a crisp mountain breeze, although maybe that's just what small cities in the area are like in late February. It was chilly out but the fresh air still made it worth strolling around the old town in the evening. I noticed enough luxury goods shops and higher end restaurants in the area to give me the impression that the city gets a lot of tourists on excursions from Venice during warmer seasons.
A shot of Ljubljana Castle illuminated in green during the evening. This was shot from Republic Square. The building at center right is the building for the Slovenian Philharmonic.
Day 2
I spent the morning of Saturday in Bled, a small town in northwestern Slovenia. The town is a popular tourist destination because of its nearby lake (Lake Bled) and lakeside castle. The bus trip takes about an hour and 20 minutes, and provides a view of the Slovenian countryside (mostly farmland) and a few other small towns along the way.
In Bled, St. Martin's Parish Church is close to Lake Bled and Bled Castle. The interior was modest compared to churches in Ljubljana, but there was an interesting decorative effect used in the murals whereby gold leaf was used in displaying the halos around saints' heads, giving them a bright glow even in darker conditions.
A view at ground level of Lake Bled and Bled Castle at the top of the hill. On the left is a very small island in the lake which hosts the Assumption of Mary Pilgrimage Church. There were also a lot of swans and mallard ducks in the lake, but they tended to crowd around anyone that looked like they might have food.
Bled Castle contains a small museum describing the history of locals in the area. Pictured are mannequins wearing the typical clothes from the 8th and 9th centuries. The castle also had a chapel, a wine cellar and a blacksmith's shop.
A view from Bled Castle facing east.
A view from Bled Castle facing southwest. My camera could not capture the greenish hue of the water in the lake, so the actual view was more colourful than pictured.
I didn't go to the island on the lake as I thought it would take too much time, and there wasn't much else in Bled for me to see, so I went back to Ljubljana to spend the afternoon seeing its old town. It was cold enough that there was wet snow intermittently falling, but it melted right away.
The interior of the Cathedral of St. Nicholas.
A view from Ljubljana Castle facing northwest. The pink building center left is the Franciscan Church of the Annunciation.
A view from Ljubljana Castle facing south. The old town can be delineated from the rest of the city based on the red roofs of the older buildings.
The site of Ljubljana Castle was at one time a Roman fortress, although the current structure was built in the 15th century. The museum in the castle displays artifacts relevant to all of the structure's various iterations, including Roman coins from 1st century BC to 5th century AD.
Ljubljana was originally a prehistoric town, but was later re-founded as a Roman military encampment (called Emona) which was destroyed by the Huns in 452 AD. Just outside the old town is a long wall that represents one of the few remaining structures of Emona.
Day 3
After visiting two castles and several churches around the city, I dedicated the last day to visiting a few museums and ensuring that I caught a glimpse of all of Ljubljana's artistic bridges along the river.
A shot of the Triple River crossing the Ljubljanica River. The river is more scenic in warmer seasons when the trees are in bloom.
The Town Hall contains three courtyards and this room, each containing contemporary artwork or photography.
The City Art Museum Ljubljana is small and contains contemporary art, most of which would fall under the category of weird or lazy (see my Lisbon post for more details). There were several artworks that were simply blank canvases either torn or smashed (there was some social statement behind this but the exhibit only explained it in Slovenian). Pictured are the least weird/lazy artworks at the museum.
Dragons are frequently used symbols in Slovenia and one of the more famous bridges in the city is the Dragon Bridge (pictured). Other noteworthy artistic bridges include the Butchers' Bridge and the Cobblers' Bridge.
The Slovene Ethnographic Museum contains four floors, with one dedicated to Slovenian history/culture, another to a random assortment of cultures around the world, and the other two floors housing temporary exhibits (one on doors and the other on Indian tapestry at the time of my visit). Pictured from the Slovenian exhibit is a cupa (a traditional fisherman's canoe).
Those are the highlights of my trip to Slovenia. I felt like I could have chosen better museums on the last day, but the National Museum of Slovenia and the National Gallery of Slovenia weren't rated that high by tourist sites and I was looking for something a bit different anyways. The castles in Ljubljana and Bled offered more interesting exhibits as well as great views of their surrounding areas, and I got to enjoy a more relaxing weekend by strolling around a very quiet but scenic old town during the tourist off-season. My next trip is to a more northern destination and I'll post details in about two weeks.
