Borghese Gallery

One of the things I had planned for Rome was the Borghese Gallery. I was very glad that I had booked my tickets ahead of time rather than just showing up at the gallery as the tickets were sold out until Friday. You pick a time slot and are given two hours in the art gallery. I decided to splurge on the audio tour. The inside of the gallery is beautiful, there is just so much to look at and see. I ended up on the second floor of the gallery which threw off my audio tour as I was confused thinking I was on the first floor so the numbers were not matching up. I figured it out and headed for the first floor to start over. It was a good choice as I was starting to get frustrated and was confused about the numbers. Walking around looking at all the art and being able to get the descriptions of each room was very enjoyable so I thought the €5 audio guide price was worth it. I normally skip audio guides but this helped me out as there was a lot to look at.

Apollo and Daphne by Bernini ^

David by Bernini ^

I wandered around each room admiring the sculptures and paintings covering the walls and ceilings. The gallery was started by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the nephew of Pope Paul V who was an avid collector of Caravaggio and an early patron of Bernini.

David with the Head of Goliath by Caravaggio ^

Young Sick Bacchus by Caravaggio ^

Madonna, Child and Serpent by Caravaggio.^

Truth Unveiled by Time by Bernini ^

Pluto and Proserpina by Bernini ^

Leda by Michele di Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio ^

Deposition by Peter Paul Rubens ^

Susanna and The Elders by Peter Paul Rubens^

Sacred and Profane Love by Titian. ^

If you have time while you are in Rome, I highly suggest giving this gallery a look. I also suggest booking in advance as tickets are limited. The location of the gallery is Villa Borghese gardens and can be easily reached by the Piazza di Spagna metro stop though I walked from the hostel I was staying in. I really enjoyed this art museum as its full of beautiful masterpieces.

Meeting in Paris

What a joy it was to see my mother and sister at the airport. We had planned to meet at the Sheraton hotel lobby before heading to the metro. I arrived first and waited and waited. Getting a bit antsy, I headed to where they would be walking from. I waited some more. No signs of them. Giving in, I moved towards the gate they had flown into and was rewarded by finding them. Happy hugs from my mother and sister after not having seen them for a year. It was like I had never left their side. Gathering our bags, we headed to the train and purchased three tickets to get us into Paris. Getting on the train we sat down with our bags and smiles happy smiles at each other. They had made it all the way from Vancouver to meet me in Paris. They had left the day before and I had left that very morning, flying out of Liverpool.

The Rijksmuseum

The Rijksmuseum is a Netherlands national museum dedicated to arts and history in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square very close to the Van Gogh Museum, the Sedelijk Museum and the Concertgebouw.

The museum was founded in The Hague in 1800 and moved to Amsterdam in 1808 where it was first located in the Royal Palace and later in the Trippenhuis. The current main building was designed by Pierre Cuypers and first opened its doors in 1885. On April 13, 2013, after a ten-year renovation which cost €375 million, the main building was reopened. In 2013, it was the most visited museum in the Netherlands with a record of 2.2 million visitors.

The museum has on display 8,000 objects of art and history, from their total collection on 1 million objects from the years 1200-2000 among which are some masterpieces by Rembrandt, Frans Hals, and Johannes Vermeer.

Katten Kabinet

After checking out the Amsterdam Museum I walked along Herengracht to Katten Kabinet or Cat Cabinet in English. Katten Kabinet is described as an "unusual museum displaying feline art." I personally think there is nothing unusual about that. More like, that it is amazing!  The art museum costs € 6.00 but with the I Amsterdam card you can get 25% off the admission price.  As I did not yet have my card I paid full price but found the art museum worth every penny as I am a cat lover. I later found at my hostel on one of those attraction discount card walls a card for a gift with admission for the Katten Kabinet and wonder what the gift would be.

The highlight of the museum I would have to say was the cats inside it. I was able to pet both the cats. The black one scratched me a bit on my hand but with my longing for my cat Ricky, I thought it was pretty awesome at the time. I loved all the cat art and the fact that that was was what the museum was focused on. Animals play a big part in art and often featured in paintings. When I was in Madrid with Jess we counted how many dogs we could find in paintings as we walked through El Prado and we reached over 40.