On the tenth day of site-seeing, my true love gave to me...
a little game of "guess who"
We visited the home of a famous scientist who worked out of here:
These plants were very important to him:
As were these ones:
Here's Vince posing with one of his heroes (ok, not really)
Any guesses? All right, enough with the fun. We visited the Mendel Museum home of Gregor Mendel, also known as the father of modern genetics
I'm sure you all remember your ninth grade biology courses (well, if you had Mr. Glassford, you do) where you discussed Mendel's experiments with pea plants and their dominant and recessive characteristics (or you could have blocked all that knowledge, since memories of junior high are not usually all that pleasant). Either way, coming from a family of geeks, I got a kick out of it. Possibly because of these:
You know how I love the old books :)
I also enjoyed seeing Mendel's other scientific experiments, since they tended to the astronomical:
Here were some very lovely microscopes...
Ok, I really took the photos because I liked the fuzzy hats they wore.
Nothing like a giant DNA sculpture to get your geekyness juices flowing!
And, since I'll take my science with a large dose of religion, we took a trip to the Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady, right next to the Augustinian Monestary:
The inside, which we got to tour with a young lady who spoke very good English, was gorgeous.
The stained glass windows, which were bombed, were replaced during the Communist rule and thus could not be religious in nature. The center panels are abstract pictures, while the original outer panels show the saints:
The organ loft
Loved the decor on the walls:
And the interesting use of a large menorah (can't remember why she said they had it there...)
The ceilings were also decorated in these unique patterns:
Another pilgrim's pulpit
Absolutely loved this stuff:
Yes, it is now four months since this trip, and we still have about four days of it left. I think I might take a short break to at least post some Christmas photos...but don't hold me to it.
5 comments:
Hey Melissa,
These pictures are amazing. What a neat trip. I laughed at your comment about Mr Glassford. That is a class you dont forget. In fact, I am pretty sure we had that class together. I remember being terrified that he would call on me in class but you would save all of us and raise you hand with the perfect answer.
I TOTALLY remember Glassford and his lesson on genetics-what a riot! What a beautiful building-love all the ceilings and elaborate ornamentation.
Trina, I don't remember having all the answers...I probably wished I did though. Such a geek!
Kell, how can we forget any of his lessons? :)
I still remember the day Glassford discussed lobed ears because I went home and stared in the bathroom mirror for a long time trying to decide if my ears were the result of a dominant or recessive gene.
The detail in the church is really amazing. Jason loves the organ. He plays a little and has always wanted to visit Europe and see some there.
Seriously, was there ever a teacher as memorable as Mr. Glassford?
Post a Comment