Many of you know, from all the hullabaloo before Christmas, that Anna (who is my niece and my sidekick here at Needle ‘n Thread) and I sneaked off to Europe at the beginning of this past December. I’ve had a lot of requests for photos and details of our adventures. While I won’t go into a lot of detail, I’ll give you some highlights.
As far as the background goes, suffice it to say, this was something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time, and I’ve been saving for it since about 2012. Life constantly intervened. Aside from a short jaunt to Canada one summer, I haven’t traveled out of the country since 2002.
The Travel Bug bit badly last year. In September, I said, “I go.”
Anna said, “I go with you.”
And so we went.
Instead of giving you a play-by-play of the trip, I’m going to share a smattering of inspirational things that we saw and experienced. Were we seeking out embroidery everywhere we went? No, not at all. But inspiration, yes – because travel begets inspiration.
If you’re curious, come along for a little meander through Prague, Bavaria (southeastern Germany), and a little bit of Austria and France. (And all in no particular order.)
To make it legit, we’ll start with some embroidery.
If you’re in the Munich area, the Bavarian National Museum is worth a stop!
There is much, much more there than clothing from past eras, but there’s enough clothing to thrill the costumer in you, if there is one.
There’s one inside Anna – she loves historical costume – so she was on the lookout for just such delights as these embroidered waistcoats, court dresses and…
and…
…a monkey.
All was fine until the monkey. I found this guy a little bizarre and creepy, among all that silk.
But this court dress made up for it.
This is French – a robe parée – popularized into the court dress by Marie Antoinette (late 1700’s). The monochrome silk is lavishly but delicately embroidered and perfectly sumptuous.
One of my favorite museum visits was the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz.
The exhibition and the demonstration of the press (which is a modified wine press) were fascinating. I could have lingered there for a while, even though the actual exhibit is quite small. The influence that this press had on the rest of history is mind boggling.
I could see this embroidered, couldn’t you?
I love illumination!
During Advent, Strasbourg Cathedral displays a set of 14 tapestries depicting the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, that were woven for Notre Dame in Paris in the 1650’s. They were sold to Strasbourg some 80 or so years later.
The tapestries are only on display during Advent and the Christmas season, so I was super happy to be there at the right time!
The tapestries were woven in wool and silk. The colors are amazingly vibrant, for being 400-ish years old!
The fourteen tapestries are only displayed in Advent because the weather is more conducive to the conservation of the tapestries. The heat of summer, and all that accompanies it, isn’t as “friendly” to the textiles, so they are only up for a brief period during the colder, less humid winter.
Trips to Europe can be overwhelming. There are so many things to see, so much beauty, art, inspiration everywhere you look. It is very easy to lose the details, amidst the wonder of it all.
My approach when traveling like this is to concentrate not on everything, but on some things. There’s no point in trying to pack in everything, or even to notice everything. It would just all turn into a jumble! So I prefer to enjoy general impressions, and then to make a point to look for certain aspects of art or architecture that especially interest me.
This might be gargoyles on buildings. It might be stained glass. It might be stone work. Doors. Or ceilings. Whatever it is, I generally find myself looking for those particular aspects through the whole trip.
On this trip, it was doors and ceilings. My travel motto was, more or less, “look up.”
This “tympanum” at the entrance of Strasbourg Cathedral gave me pause. Gosh!
At some church or another, I did see a bit of filet lace. I don’t think this is “the good stuff” – more like daily use altar linen.
And while we’re at it, a little bit more handmade altar lace at another church. Again, probably “daily use” – not their nicest stuff for great feast days or celebrations, I’m sure. But still nice – and someone made that!
If you are in Bavaria, you will see carved wood. Especially if you are there around Christmas, there’s no way you’d be able to miss seeing carved wood. The area is famous for its carved nativity scenes. But there is oh! so much more! than nativity scenes.
We spent a little time in Oberammergau, where I had the opportunity to talk to a master carver. Fascinating!
When I go back to Bavaria, I will have to base myself there. I could have talked to the artisans there until the cows came home. They struggle with the fact that the art of wood carving – which has been so long part of their heritage – is dying. Young people are not interested.
There are definitely differences, too, in the quality of wood items throughout Bavaria – and even right there in Oberammergau. Some wood carvers now rely on machines for part of the work. Others still rely simply on their hands and their hand-held carving tools.
And oh! The smell of the wood shops! So warm and woody. It was a lovely visit!
It smelled almost as good as the cafe where we had lunch.
But we won’t talk about that right now.
Bavaria is practically its own art museum. Many buildings in most of the towns we passed through – and the outlying farms and homes – feature these Lüftlmalerei (airy, or outdoor, paintings), murals that are painted on the outside of homes, shops, hotels, restaurants. Pretty much any building!
The murals depict scenes from the Bible, particular saints, or just general Bavarian life.
From scrollwork around windows and doors to elaborate Biblical scenes, the scenes on the outsides of the buildings are captivating, charming, and just lovely.
“Look up!”
There are ceilings, and then there are Ceilings!
The ceilings everywhere! Of course, churches and grand buildings of state have the most impressive ceilings. This particular ceiling above is probably my favorite, just because the ornamentation on the vaults and arches is so pretty.
This is the Basilica of St. Ludmilla in Prague.
And yet another ceiling, in the Pilgrimage Church at Wies. I was glad we stopped here! It is out in the middle of seemingly nowhere, surrounded by beautiful countryside. It’s a Unesco world heritage site, and very, very, very, Rococo in style.
Appropriately, the ceiling is a depiction of heaven.
I don’t think this photo does justice to the ceiling’s utter beauty – oh my word! The color, especially when the morning sun came through! The natural light enlivened it, but my camera didn’t quite capture that.
Jumping back to Prague, I grabbed this photo as we were walking very briskly through Praha 1 (Old Town). I regret not getting a full head-on photo. What a great window!
And speaking of Prague, we visited the church of Our Lady of Victories there, which is home to the Infant of Prague, a small state of Baby Jesus.
The Infant is dressed in robes befitting each liturgical season. Over the years, many countries around the globe have sent gifts of vestments for the Infant, and there is a small museum in the back of the church, displaying these robes.
They are all embroidered to some extent or another. The example above is one of the most elaborate in the collection. There’s also a robe embroidered by Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, in goldwork, from the 1700’s.
On one robe, amidst other embroidery, there was this tiny butterfly.
Jumping back to Strasbourg at this point, because it was Advent, most places we visited were seriously decked out for Christmas.
I didn’t quite understand the pink pigs… but ok.
Pardon, but we just jumped back to Prague. Look up!
There’s nowhere in Old Town Prague that doesn’t have something to look at on the buildings.
And when I say “look up,” I really mean UP. (Oops, this is back in Strasbourg – see what I meant by “no particular order”?)
Besides buildings and streets and museums and markets and cafes, of course we saw beautiful countryside.
What was amazing to me was that we went from the above green-grassed valley to this:
… in the same morning.
It was winter! But I was surprised at how much green was everywhere, even in the higher altitudes. We even saw violas blooming in Salzburg.
Did we do anything besides visit churches, museums, and the like?
Of course. We ate good food…
…probably stopped at too many cafes…
…we wandered streets…
…we visited innumerable Christmas markets…
…(every major town or city we visited had more than one!)…
…and we even managed to take one selfie.
And that, my friends, was our trip!
I’m so glad we went! And I’m glad I could share a little bit of it with you!
Have a lovely weekend!
You had me green with envy, Mary! The two of you seem to have had a lovely time – and a well-deserved holiday. Thank you for the lovely write-up.
And do I see a piece of embroidery based on the vaults of the Basilica of St. Ludmilla in Prague? Right up your alley…
thank you for the tour !