Once again we are back on the road!

We left Home and drove to Knoxville on Friday the 30th. There we stayed at a lovely AirB&B that had a very comfy mattress. Next day we drove to Raleigh, North Carolina. Here we are staying with our dear friend Joyshine and her love Jamie.

So first night there we partook in a lovely Samhain ritual at someone's house in the woods. Very nice. Afterwards we went to a really shiny diner. And when I mean shiny, lots of light was reflecting off the thing. The food was great and we got home plenty late.

Sunday was a day of rest, doing a lot of nothing, but we did socialize with Joy and Jamie. I was mostly out of it thanks to kidney pain and exhaustion. Monday was another day of rest but we had tasty Mexican food at the end. Then we bought bacon from a butcher and I got beer. It is a scotch ale aged in whiskey casks. I am so looking forward to tasting that.

Joy and I were rather tipsy, thanks to multiple margaritas, and it only got worse as we went through some wine and looked at travel pics. The images of the Basilica de Sangrada Famalia were stunning. By the end, Joy and I were plastered and giggling like fools. It was lovely.

Today, I ventured out. Cindy did not come because fibro and narcolepsy tag teamed her. J&J took me to the North Carolina museum of art. There were two travelling exhibits I had to see and then the regular collection. The first special exhibit was the Codex Leicester by Da Vinci. It was primarily a collection of his observations of water, how it flowed, water pressure, etc... The writing and the sketches were so amazing. I was completely in awe. The exhibit shows all the pages of the Codex and they are amazing.

Next we walked to the exhibit adjacent to the Da Vinci, which was the Escher exhibit. The museum had tied the two collections together with quotes, two by Da Vinci and two by Escher, where he lauds Da Vinci. That helped set the mood.

That collection was rather large with a lot of the more famous works as well as some of the early Architecture pieces. They also had a 12+ foot copy of Metamorphose II. That was amazing. The wood cuts used to ink some of the designs were also on display and they were very cool.

Then we went next door to the primary collection. That collection is great because it has excellent representative works that give you a feel for each of the time periods. The Egyptian section was rather nice with a few sarcophagi and a nice bust of Sekmet. The Rodin collection was amazing, with a lot of the more famous pieces but also a number of his more common works. It wasn't all subsections of the Gates of Heaven and Hell. Then there was the Jewish collection with some great Seder plates, Torah decorations and covers, menorahs, and more. Very good stuff, though not large.

All in all we are enjoying this portion of the journey.

Talk to you later,