Sunday at the Museum

Sunday was MAHVELLOUS, DARLING! Even though we were a bit rushed in the morning, getting breakfast made, the dishes washed, and out the door when I wanted, we were at the museum in plenty of time and their WiFi was strong enough to keep DH happy on his phone for the half-hour we waited before the doors opened. We were in the first group for "The Habsburgs" exhibition and it was stunning! Spanning 600 years of history through art, attire and commentary while pulling in the political climate and changing historical settings, it brought the history to life.

"The Lamentation of Christ" by Peter Paul Rubens was much smaller than
I had expected, but beautifully done. I was glad we went back,
the crowds ebbed and flowed and I was able to take a closer look. 

When we finally reached the end, I asked DH if he would mind going back to a few things I wanted to see once more and he was amenable. So off we went, salmon fighting upstream, to get back to the second room where I started by looking once more at the Rubens picture "The Lamentation of Christ". We then took another long look at the Caravaggio and Holbein pieces and checked some of the embroidery and styles of the clothing again as we made our way through the galleries. The end of the exhibit was marked by films and clothing at the beginning of World War I, the end of which would see the Austro-Hungarian empire carved apart into various smaller nations. My parents were born in the Austro-Hungarian empire, so the end of the exhibit was taking place when they were alive.

"Woman in Blue Reading a Letter" was again, smaller than I had
expected. He was heavy into the greens in this, the light filtering
in from the window on the left gave her skin a green cast in her
arms, and according to what I read, he also used a green copper
undertone beneath the blue of her overshirt which gave it
great depth and tone. He died relatively young and impoverished,
leaving a wife and lots of young children. 

After leaving the exhibition, we wandered the galleries on the third floor, looking for two other paintings by Caravaggio that DH said they had displayed. But, they've been reorganizing the galleries, and their interactive computer stations were all closed, so we were never able to locate the paintings. We did look at wonderful art, however, and had a glorious afternoon capped off by a look at "Woman in Blue Reading a Letter" by Johannes Vermeer on loan from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, and only available for viewing for a few more weeks.

We enjoy Sandeman port, although we usually drink the Founder's Reserve
which is a bit darker. I bought DH this bottle as one of his holiday gifts
and we opened it yesterday. It's very smooth and has a good balance
with that wonderful fruit of a good port. If I ever go to Portugal, I'll be
drinking my way across because I adore Portuguese wines. 

After a hunt for lunch at the museum, we decided to return to our own neighborhood for food. We had wanted to check out a new Thai restaurant that opened in the area, but, unfortunately, they were closed on Sundays. We ended up at Applebees and had a surprisingly good lunch. Then it was home to watch the next televised game of the Stanley Cup hockey tournament. I worked on putting together a heavy metal play list for my latest electronic toy, expected to arrive later this week, while DH played his game and we had glasses of a very nice 10-year old Port wine. Great day all around. Now to get into gear and hit the pool for laps in a little more than 1/2 hour. Have a fun Monday!