Landesmuseum

Obviously I made it home alive from Stuttgart (barely - the turbulence was so bad on the two legs back I actually crossed myself when we landed in Los Angeles), leaving my husband in Germany for another 32 days!!! Being married to a graduate student isn't easy. But I enjoyed myself immensely and it was a wonderful getaway.

One of our favorite museums in Stuttgart happened to be free during the time they were there since they were doing extensive renovations and a lot of the exhibits were closed. That was fine with us! In fact, we were super happy to discover that the crown jewels exhibit was OPEN (it had been closed when we visited in 2009) so we were very excited. And did I mention it was free?

The King's crown - decorative only - the things was huge and would not have fit on even Brian's big head.

The Queen's crown, which she did wear. It was actually made of 3 pieces, so it could be worn as a headband, smaller crown, or as shown above. I want one.

The Queen's necklace - this was her wedding gift. DANG.

Here are some pictures from the other exhibits we saw, some we had seen before and some that were new!

Beautiful chessboard and pieces

I believe these were candle holders carved from ivory.

More carved ivory - I thought these were bizarrely beautiful.

Can you believe this is how people used to calculate astronomy and astrology!?

Close up view - not sure if these are constellations or the moon phases or what.

Then it was off to the clock room in the basement, one of our favorite exhibits. I love the square box clocks.

Amazingly detailed.

We had a very nice time walking in downtown Stuttgart and enjoying the day. It was a bit hot and humid so a museum was a must for visiting, and the air conditioning in the basement was delightful. Talk about an added bonus!