From Texas to Beyond

Local, Near and Far: Our journey of exploring the world.

Tag: Layover

Austrian National Library on the Heldenplatz
Austrian National Library on the Heldenplatz

Layover: Vienna in an Afternoon

September 24, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Today, I proudly introduce our first Guest Blogger and my good friend, John Seale. John is one of my frequent travel partners, from across Texas to the other side of the world (2 trips to Kenya). From Texas to Beyond is excited to bring you his unique perspectives on travel, along with some fascinating locations. In this four part series, John takes us to Vienna, Austria, after which he leaves the conventional European vacation behind with destinations in Kosovo and Albania.

My wife Katie and I planned nearly the perfect itinerary for a three-destination trip. The weak Euro was making European travel cheap, and the threat of terrorism was making Kenyan travel cheap, so we were combining a visit to my sister with a visit to a former ministry I volunteered with for years. Most of our long-hauls were overnights so we could sleep, and we even had a long layover in Chicago, where my wife has family.

The only problem was a long layover in Vienna, Austria. Unfortunately long, really – over 9 hours. I’ve done my fair share of long layovers in airports, and nobody likes them. Naturally, therefore, I started looking to see if it was enough time to have a valuable visit to this beautiful, historic city. Turns out, it was plenty of time, and I’m here now to share how we did it and how you can make it work on your long layover too. Continue reading

Chasing Caravaggio: Caravaggios of the National Gallery, Part 2

June 12, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Every Friday we take a break from our regular blogging schedule to allow the authors an opportunity to feature a certain topic they are passionate about. In the past you’ve read about art, studying abroad, experiencing culture through food, and the great burger adventure. Through this and other future posts we hope you’ll enjoy reading, we hope to share with you our personalities, passions, and interests on a more personal level.

As part of our continuing desire to bring beauty into focus, From Texas to Beyond will periodically feature brilliant pieces of art that have influenced our lives.  We are excited to showcase these universal works of beauty with you.

Today, we conclude the two-part miniseries examining the Caravaggio painting from The National Gallery in London.  As I mentioned in my first post in the Chasing Caravaggio Series, I am on a quest to view all of Caravaggio’s masterpieces firsthand.  Thanks to a short layover at London Heathrow I found three more in The National Gallery.

Picking up where we left off during the previous Chasing Caravaggio, I was standing before three great works of art by Caravaggio in The Nation Gallery in London.  While the first two pieces, Boy bitten by a Lizard and Salome receives the Head of John the Baptist were delightful, my favorite of the three now had my full attention.

The Supper at Emmaus

Caravaggio's The Supper at Emmaus - Courtesy of Wikipedia

Caravaggio’s The Supper at Emmaus – Courtesy of Wikipedia

The final and greatest Caravaggio painting in The National Gallery, The Supper at Emmaus, was much large than I expected.  The scale of the painting accentuates the viewer’s ability to enter into the scene as Christ stretches his hand out of the painting’s surface, directly to us.

Continue reading

Chasing Caravaggio: Caravaggios of the National Gallery, Part 1

May 22, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Every Friday we take a break from our regular blogging schedule to allow the authors an opportunity to feature a certain topic they are passionate about. In the past you’ve read about art, studying abroad, experiencing culture through food, and the great burger adventure. Through this and other future posts we hope you’ll enjoy reading, we hope to share with you our personalities, passions, and interests on a more personal level.

As part of our continuing desire to bring beauty into focus, From Texas to Beyond will periodically feature brilliant pieces of art that have influenced our lives.  We are excited to showcase these universal works of beauty with you.

Today, we begin a two-part miniseries examining the Caravaggio painting from the National Gallery in London.  As I mentioned in my first post in the Chasing Caravaggio Series, I am on a quest to view all of Caravaggio’s masterpieces firsthand.  Thanks to a short layover at London Heathrow I found three more in the National Gallery.

As Rebekah discussed in her earlier post, The National Gallery owns countless magnificent pieces of art.  While on a guided tour of the museum, I caught my first glimpse of the pieces I desired to see the most:  all three Caravaggio paintings hung next to each other along a long wall.  Once the tour concluded, we backtracked to Room 32.

Boy bitten by a Lizard

Caravaggio's Boy bitten by a Lizard - Courtesy of Wikipedia

Caravaggio’s Boy bitten by a Lizard – Courtesy of Wikipedia

Enjoying the Caravaggio’s one at a time, I first viewed Boy bitten by a Lizard.  I had previously seen a later version of Boy bitten by a Lizard (from the Fondazione Roberto Longhi) at the Kimbell Art Museum during a traveling exhibition.  Caravaggio’s earlier version was just as good.  This painting was one of the first the artist produced after arriving in Rome, sometime between 1595 and 1600.  While straightforward at first glance, the piece is full of symbolism.  If you listen to most contemporary commentaries on this piece of art, they will mention Caravaggio’s overt interest in young men.  After reading more on the artist, it is hard to believe he did not love men.  However, he definitely loved women as well.  To me, Boy bitten by a Lizard seems to show that something as beautiful as fruit, a symbol of love, may end in unexpected pain, such as a bite from a hidden lizard.

Continue reading

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