2 posts tagged “museum”
Since I last wrote, I've been having a good time in Geneva. I had dinner at the Cafe de Paris, whose menu features exactly one dish: an entrecote steak in a "secret," peppery, spiced butter sauce. It was pretty fantastic, as you'd expect from the one dish served at a packed restaurant.
I ran out of cash on my way to dinner, and had to go to an ATM. The nearest one was at Credit Suisse, and to my chagrin, the smallest withdrawal I could make was 200 Swiss Francs (US$160), in the form of a single bill. I suppose this is a city of high rollers.
I went back to the hotel by way of the bodega on the corner, picking up a half-bottle of Swiss red wine on the way. running around Rome with a heavy SLR camera in a shoulder bag took a pretty nasty toll on my back, so I spent the rest of the evening alternately in a hot bath and watching That 70s Show with Arabic subtitles.
I slept late, and went to the Patek Philippe watch museum on Saturday. It was pretty cool -- mechanical computers are fascinating, especially little teeny tiny ones. The best part was the super-miniature automata made for French royalty in the 1700s -- little scenes of villagers dancing or birds singing, complete with movement and music, all in wind-up form about an inch tall.
This morning, I headed for the airport, and I'm now in Prague, the last stop on my trip.
This morning, I headed for the airport, and I'm now in Prague, the last stop on my trip.
Today's purchases:
- 1 slice of quiche and cup of tea at Cafe Tristan und Isolde;
- 1 ticket to tonight's performance of Don Giovanni by the Estonian Opera;
- 1 ticket to tomorrow night's gala closing concert of the 2006 Piano Festival at the Estonia Concert Hall, featuring full orchestra, chorus, and soloists and including, among other things, Antheil's Ballet Mécanique, which I've wanted to experience live for a long time (it's scored for, among other things, 10 pianos and 3 airplane propellers);
- 1 admittance ticket to the Estonian Music and Theatre Museum, which I happened upon by chance on the way between the Cafe and the Theatre, and which had in its collection a number of really cool mechanical instruments from the late 19th and early 20th century;
- 1 pint of pilsner and 1 hour of internet time, both being consumed in tandem right now in the basement of a bar that has that combined smell of old cigarette smoke, old sweat, and cleaning fluid that the UW-Milwaukee student union used to have when I'd go there to play pool with my Dad when I was a kid.
