Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Princeton University, On the Road Again

Wayne and the Princeton University Chapel


We've begun our winter 2014 sojourn to Florida where we will spend the next 6 weeks with our friends Kathy and John Lima in Anna Maria on Anna Maria Island.  It was a dark and stormy beginning; heavy rain followed us all the way to Princeton, NJ. The trek was made tolerable with Stephen King's newest book, Dr. Sleep, which is a sequel to The Shining.   We arrived in Princeton about 3:30 pm, checked into the local Hampton Inn and dashed immediately to Princeton University.  The University sits adjacent to downtown Princeton, the campus lining one side of Nausau Street and shops lining the opposite side.  We were simply wowed by the beauty and extent of the campus.  It rivaled any campus we have visited including Harvard, Oxford and Cambridge, and Yale.  The art museum has a respectable collection of the usual suspects (Medieval, European, American, etc).  The pieces that linger in my mind were Bosch's Christ Before Pilate, a most unusual Toulous Lautrec parody of Puvis de Chavannes, a Van Gogh and a beautiful Lucas Cranach.  The University chapel is a beauty claiming to be the 3rd largest university chapel.  It was well past dusk when we entered the chapel which denied us the complete experience of the stained glass and the soaring nave.  

Back at the Inn we took advantage of the offered free Italian dinner.  Agreeing before we went downstairs to head back into town if the fare proved not to please us, we were delighted with a great salad, stuffed shells and meatballs as good as anything we could prepare ourselves.  The meal came with wine and beer, too.  Oh!  And desert!  Hampton Inn has regained its spot in our hearts.  

For pictures of the University please visit Flickr