betsy's totally awesome blog

I am choosing to write about the treasury! I loved getting to see all the crowns and fancy jewels that the monarchs used to wear, along with some of their artifacts. Something that I thought was really interesting was there were these crosses with really ornate bases to hold them up, and in the base of each of them was a bone! I’m not sure what the bones were supposed to mean or where they came from but I thought that was really interesting that they were a part of the treasury, they must have been really important! I also really liked it when their gloves or shoes had gemstones on them because it just looked a little silly honestly! Especially the gloves that looked like Thanos from Avengers.  All the artifacts in the treasury are important historically because they allow us to learn more about the monarchy and what the royals were wearing and surrounding themselves with on a daily basis. Now we have these artifacts and we can use them as milestones for art and clothing to tell th...

The Belvedere Museum might be my favorite museum so far! The painting that stuck out to me the most was called, “Wein, Weib und Gesang”, which translates to wine, woman, and song. This painting felt very comfortable to me and reminded me a lot of my family. I love how inviting it seems and everyone looks like they are having a good time in each other presence, eating, playing music, reading, and drawing. The amount of detail in the painting is amazing, under the table there is a dog, and in the background, it looks like the man is sketching the painting on the wall. It’s one of those paintings that I wish I could step into and join the scene!  This painting is important historically because it is a good representation of what life was like for people at this time. In the painting description, it talks about the different types of people depicted in the painting. There is a bachelor on the left that is more proper and doesn’t join in on the fun, and on the right, it is a family with...

  Quinta da Regaleira was absolutely beautiful, it felt like we were walking around a fairytale in real life! I loved seeing all the different plants and waterfalls throughout the property it is so amazing to me that they got to live with things like this in their own backyard! I also thought all the little caves were so cool. Some of them had tables and benches made out of stones and I think that younger Betsy would have loved to play house in one of them. It was also fun to climb up the different towers so that you could look out over the city below! The entire place was so beautiful it was so great to be in a place with nature and old architecture!  I think that the Quinta da Regaleira is important historically because it was first a woman who owned the land which I think is very different from a lot of the places that we’ve been to so far. It also shows many symbols that are important to Portugal's culture and history like the Armillary sphere was on many of the posts outs...

For my woman of choice, I am choosing to write about Maria II of Portugal! She was only seven years old when she was made queen, personally, I couldn’t imagine becoming the queen of an entire country at the age of seven and I’m sure she probably felt a lot of pressure and unwanted attention from it. She also was supposed to marry her uncle who is older, who was supposed to promise to have a liberal government, but when he got here he told everyone that she was no longer queen and that he was king. Luckily, everyone took her side even though it resulted in a civil war. By the time she was fifteen, she was finally queen again. Queen Maria II made so many contributions to her country! Despite the rough beginning to her rule she gained a lot of support from people and was seen as a great mother to her children and to the country! She made lots of contributions that worked to better the public health standards in order to avoid a cholera epidemic. This was very important because health stan...

I have loved learning about Amalia Rodrigues and visiting her house was a super cool experience! I’m gonna be honest, at first, I thought it was going to be boring and very empty like a museum but I loved it! We got to see how her house actually looked when she lived there and all of her personal belongings were still there! I have learned that Amalia really revolutionized Fado music and that basically anyone who knows Fado music has heard of Amalia Rodrigues. Her poems and the way she sang with so much emotion helped a lot of people to learn to really appreciate the music more and fall in love with Fado.  Her contribution is important because she made many changes to the traditions of Fado that made it more interesting and personal to her. It was her that started to wear the black shawl while she sang Fado and from what I saw at our Fado dinner, many Fado singers continue to wear the black shawl just like her. She also toured all over the world and performed her music which probab...

I ’m choosing to write about the many different tiles I’ve seen here in Lisbon! I have loved seeing all the different patterns and styles of tiles that make each house so unique and beautiful! In the museum today there were also lots of tiles that came from Turkey and I loved how some of them made pictures when they were put all together, which is different than the ones of the houses that usually just make patterns. My favorite one I saw in the museum was called “Tile panel with prunus trees in moonlight”. It had a lot of different shades of blue that made a very pretty picture of a tree with flowers when they were all put together. It makes me want to have a tiled house when I’m older! The tiles on the houses are definitely a huge part of the culture here in Lisbon! I would be interested to learn more about why they started tiling the houses here, and whether or not there was a purpose for them other than to make the houses more beautiful and artistic. From the museum, I learned that...

The Descubridores Monument was much larger than I was expecting it to be actually. When we were standing in line for the Chapel I was looking over at it and at first I thought it was just a cross because I was seeing it from straight on, but then I realized it was the Descubridores monument! I really liked looking at all the details on the men on each of the sides, I thought it was kind of fun that they each had things that made it so you could tell who everyone was based on what they invented or were known for. The way they were all positioned really drew your eyes toward the man at the very front holding the boat, Henry the navigator, and I think it shows that they were all moving in a new direction with their inventions.   This monument is important historically because it is a reminder of the people and things that helped Portugal be able to become what it is today. I didn’t actually know who any of the men of the monument were before our little class today, but I actually...

For my choice woman post, I chose Emilia Pardo Bazan! I learned that she was a feminist, and a writer, and an early adopter of technology. She came from a wealthy family and was the first woman to become a professor at the university in Madrid. She faced some challenges because of her gender and many of the other professors at the university didn’t like that there was a woman professor. They would boycott her lectures and it caused many students to not attend out of fear. Some professors wouldn’t work with the students who attended her lectures or wouldn’t sign their thesis. Her writings gave vivid descriptions of what it was like to live in poverty and she wrote over 600 stories covering many topics and genres.  Her contribution is important because she was a trailblazer for women professors here in Madrid. It was probably very scary to go into a university with no other professors like you, and have many professors against you, so it is impressive that she was brave enough to do ...

  For the art of my choice, I chose these two paintings by Juan de Sevilla that I saw at the Prado Museum. I had to take some sneaky pictures of them, but I thought they were super interesting! The first one called “Martyrdom of Saint Catherine” looks very chaotic and shows angels breaking the wheels next to Saint Catherine. There is definitely a triangle being made here! The three circles of the wheels and the circle around Saint Catherine's head make a triangle pointing towards her head. Not to mention there is also a person pointing to her head from the window behind her! The second one called “Beheading of Saint Catherine” is very colorful and I really liked all the different shapes going on in the painting and the way her hair is painted!  I think that this painting is important historically because it is portraying the story of Saint Catherine. I didn’t know the story of Saint Catherine before coming to Madrid and it is actually a very interesting story! I did some resea...

The first Cathedral we went to in Toledo was my absolute favorite one we’ve gone to this entire trip! I was so impressed with everything in there, the amount of detail on each piece of stone and wood was amazing. My favorite part was either the wood-carved seats with the mercy seats, or the painting towards the back with a whole bunch of angels and rainbows and the sun peaks through the window perfectly it looks like you are looking up into heaven! It is absolutely beautiful. The wood carving was so impressive because every seat was completely different. There were no repeats of animals and they all were very detailed and even told stories.  I think that Cathedrals like this one are important culturally because it shows how religion was revered and practiced back then and they can be a great place to visit to see how things have changed and also see things that you like that they did. They are also important historically because they teach us a lot about the importance of religious...

Concepcion Arenal is a very important woman for journalism and also for being one of the first women to graduate from law school. One of the challenges she faced was she wasn’t allowed to actually go to school as a woman, but they allowed her to if she dressed up like a man and also sat in a separate area from the men. Concepcion also worked as a prison inspector and worked towards improving the conditions of prisons and advocating for the prisoners, especially the women prisoners. I think that Concepcion is a very inspirational woman and I’m glad I’ve gotten to learn about her. She reminds me a lot of Mulan who is my favorite Disney princess, I think it’s just because they both dress as men in order to do what they want and not just do what a man tells them to do!  Concepcion Arenal contributed the most towards improving the conditions of prisons for women and she wanted them to have access to education. She was an inspector of prisons but got kicked out of the position once she w...

  Today at the Archeology Museum I learned so much about the Christian Medival period and also the prehistoric periods such as the bronze and iron periods. It was so interesting to see how tools had developed from just using rocks to actual swords and axes. I also thought it was so cool that even people from thousands of years ago were decorating things just like we do now. They carved pictures on their tools and also in the Chistian Medival period art was crucial to their worship. I loved the Alterpeice that featured many different saints, It was full of color and was a great example of what the art was like at this time.  The artifacts and paintings in this museum taught me so many things about history and the way people acted and thought during these different periods. By learning about how we as humans have developed and changed can teach us a lot about human nature in general and how we always are striving to become better and invent new ways of doing things. It also show...

Alida Bosshardt is literally such a boss! I had never heard of Major Bosshardt before coming here to Amsterdam, but she is a very interesting lady and deserves some more recognition. She went to a Salvation Army meeting and decided that she was going to join even though she was not religious and she was only eighteen years old. During the holocaust, she took care of many Jewish children and helped many women who were working in the redlight district. She also established the first Goodwill in Amsterdam for the women in the redlight district. She is very inspiring and accomplished so many good things in her lifetime, I hope I can help people like she did!  Her contribution is important because she was able to save so many Jewish children and hide them during the occupation. So many lives were saved and she truly made a difference in the lives of those living in Amsterdam at the time. She also was one of the first people to start helping the women in the red light district and after ...

Anne Frank is probably one of my favorite women I’ve learned about so far, I just find it so interesting that a young girl has become so famous because of her diary that she never meant to be published. It is such a tragedy that so many young girls like her were robbed of a normal youth and a safe life, but it’s also so important for us to read her book and learn about the holocaust so we can be better prepared and more understanding towards these topics. I also didn’t know that she had wanted to become a journalist when she grew up so it's so amazing that her dream was fulfilled in a way.  Her contribution is so important because it really helps us to understand what life was like for the Jews who had to go into hiding during Hitler's rule. She is so honest in her book that you can see how she really felt and understand the constant fears and worries of their day to day lives that people today don’t have to worry about. I also think it's so important that it is a woman...

  The painting that really stuck out to me at the Rijksmuseum was the Night Watch by Rembrandt. My first impression of it was that it was a lot larger than I was expecting it to be. The amount of detail for such a large painting is so impressive and I can’t even imagine how long it must have taken to paint it. I really liked how the painting felt chaotic and there was a lot going on. Almost every person in the painting is looking in a different direction and it really draws your eyes all over the piece. I also really liked how the two people in white helped to highlight the man standing in the middle and almost make it look like he's glowing.  This painting is important historically because it is one of Rembrandt's most famous pieces of art. It is also very unique compared to other paintings of this type at the time because of how chaotic it is. Other companies of soldiers also got their portraits captured, but this one is very different because they aren’t all posed and seri...

Eating Balinese food for the first time was a great experience! At first, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it because I had never had anything like it before and sometimes spicy food isn’t my favorite, but I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed it a lot! The flavors of each dish were so different, but at the same time, I felt like they complimented each other very well. I was very skeptical of the spicy egg at first because the sauce on it was bright red, but it was absolutely delicious and I don’t think I’ve had anything that tasted like that before. My favorite was the skewered meat, I’m not sure what it was, but the sauce on it had a peanut flavor that was just heavenly!  Balinese food is important historically because Indonesia was involved in a lot of trade which allowed for them to get all these new and unique flavors for their dishes. It really sparked a lot of trade between countries because of their strong and unique spices that were only in Indonesia at the time. Eur...

  I am choosing to write about the Ghent Altarpiece for my Brussels art! I was really impressed by this painting when I saw it. It was a lot bigger than I was expecting it to be and the amount of detail in each panel is amazing. I really liked how each panel had a different scene or person on it, but that all together it came to make one story and it still felt cohesive. The bottom middle panel was my favorite because it has the mystic lamb and the detail on all the people in it is impressive, even though they are smaller they still have clear facial expressions and their clothes are detailed too. It was also interesting to be able to see the back of the panels and I love that one of them has the man who commissioned the piece.  I think that the Ghent Altarpiece is important historically because it has a very complicated story and is a part of the paintings that were stolen by the nazis and then found by the monument's men. It is also a very unique painting because it is paint...

From the outside, the Parliament building looks huge and it has glass basically all the way around it. It's very modern in design and in its architecture. It's in Brussels because Brussels is considered the capital of the European Union. I thought it was really cool how at the entrance there were pieces of the Berlin wall on display. I have never seen a part of the Berlin Wall before and I think it is really symbolic of how this building is a place of unity and how it will be a place for change.  I think the EU Parliament is significant historically because there are a lot of decisions made there on issues that affect things on a large scale. Their main goal is to ensure peace and to stop wars from starting between countries. They also try to help the other countries that are a part of the union. There have definitely been some crucial changes made in this building that have affected European history, and also the union itself has had a lot of changes because new applications a...

  Marie Popelin was very important for women in Belgium during the late 19th and 20th centuries. She was very well educated in her childhood and became a teacher and worked at many different schools, but then decided she would rather go to law school. She was the first woman in Belgium to graduate from law school, but because she was a woman they wouldn’t allow her to take the Bar exam so she wouldn’t be able to practice law. She fought against it but then realized that the whole system was against women and that there needed to be even more change in order for there to be equality. I think she is very inspiring and a strong woman.  Marie Popelin’s contributions are important because they helped to advance gender equality in Belgium, which in turn helped gender equality in the world. By advocating for legislative changes she created a lot of shifts in society that gave women more opportunities for work and didn’t limit them to one thing anymore. And for any woman who was tryin...

  While walking around the D’Orsay I was really drawn to Marie Laurencins art so I am writing about her for my woman of choice. Some things I’ve learned about her is she was significant in the early 20th century in the Parisian art scene, and was known for her contributions to the Cubist movement and her style of painting usually had really delicate and pastel colors. The paintings that I saw were all very dreamy and looked soft but also striking at the same time. My reaction to Marie Laurencin is she is very inspiring because at the time there were definitely more male artists that were getting attention and she still was unique to her own artistic niche.  Marie Laurencin's contribution to the art world is important for several reasons. Firstly, she challenged the male-dominated art establishment of her time, asserting herself as a talented painter in her own right. Secondly, her distinctive style, characterized by its ethereal quality and gentle palette, offered a counterpoi...