Tooky, did I miss something? That looks like Princess Diana's wedding dress. What museum did you go to, and what exhibit did you see?

A velocipede, Benisse? How cool. I remember reading Louisa May Alcott's An Old-Fashioned Girl, one of her less familiar stories, and Tommy once had an accident on the velocipede. What a great word! I had no idea how it differed from today's bikes until recently when I did some research for a work project and learned that the mid-19th-century velocipedes had wooden wheels (later metal ones) but no tires. Rubber hadn't been developed for that use yet. Imagine how jarring it would have been to ride such a bike on cobblestone streets, and you understand why its other name was "boneshaker."

The trains sound fascinating. It must have been such fun to climb onto the cars.

Aslie, a friend at work recently went to Monticello and was equally excited by it. It must be such a stupendous experience to stand there and realize that one of the great minds in our history not only lived there but designed the place himself. That whole generation of founders are special heroes of mine.

I went to see the "Diana" exhibit at a museum in Iowa of all places. The dress, gems and other artifacts of Princess Diana's life were on display there as the last stop before they change hands from the Spencer family to the Windsor family. It was an amazing display, along with the dress and her crown jewels they had things from the Spencer family history and their jewelry and portraits, a selection of Princess Diana's wardrobe(Which I must share with Lois soon!) and other various things, like her ballet slippers! It was a stunning trip, and probably the most interesting one I'll be able to share here unless I go to Chicago, and even then probably not as neat as this one. It seems that Benisse gets most of the other good exhibits. 😛

*bounces like crazy* Tooky!! Me and my 4-H club are going there in November!!!! I know exactly what you're talking about! 😀

Tooky wow! What a treat to get to see an exhibit on Princess Diana! (And how cool you got to take photos there too)
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On Thursday I visited a local historical society that maintains a one room museum. The director gave an interesting talk to the group I was with, but unfortunately she got so in to telling local history stories that we didn't really have time to see the displays before it was time for our group to go to lunch.

Since we had only five minutes to cruise the exhibits I concentrated on a collection of dolls from all over the world. My favorite was a small, antique Japanese geisha doll that came in her own wooden case with six tiny wigs in various styles. Also it was fun to see so many countries represented (including Malta and other unusual places). However, I was disappointed that the African dolls did not have their countries of origin specified; they only had a generic "Africa" label by each. 😐

I definitely need to go back by that historical society museum to get a more thorough look-see.

As a doll fan, I like the sound of that museum! My dolls are all play dolls (child dolls and adult "fashion" dolls), but an old friend of mine had a collection that sounds like this museum one. I remember she had a samurai bride doll, for example. When I used to visit her family, my first stop was always the doll room, even if my friend wasn't there. You didn't change their clothes or even hold them, so they weren't my type of doll, but I loved to look at them all.

Tooky, that Diana display sounds wonderful. Lois will enjoy hearing about the other outfits and maybe using some of the details for her sewing. When I look back at her dresses, I find that the earlier ones were what we might consider a bit fussy nowadays, with lots of large-patterned prints, while the later ones were sleeker and more tailored. I know that the ballgowns were sumptuous, but I tended to like the suits and some of the coats when I saw their photos. One interesting thing: many of the evening gowns were surprisingly modest, with sleeves, sometimes even long sleeves.

For Mother's Day my family took me to the Getty Center, an oasis of art, architecture, performing arts and landscapes in Los Angeles.

In addition to enjoying the creatively landscaped gardens, since this museum is so huge, we focused on a few exhibits in the west building:
1. A Royal Passion: Queen Victoria and Photography http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/victoria/
This was an impressive collection of early photographs, royal portraits and informal snapshots of the royal family that reflect the Queen's fascination for the developing technology of photography, and how she used photos to enhance her image. My daughter's favorite part of this exhibit was the room with handheld stereoscope viewers,which made flat photos taken at slightly different angles look 3-D when held up to your eyes.

2. Hiroshi Sugimoto: Past Tense
Sugimoto is an artist that makes waxworks or taxidermy come alive by shooting huge portraits in black and white with lighting that makes the subjects look uncannily animated. My favorite was the room with these humongous black and white photographs of waxworks (Mme Tussaud's) of King Henry VIII and his six wives. They were taken with such precision that they truly looked like the real King Harry and his ladies had just walked into the room and sat for some formal portraits. (Unfortunately photos of these creations just don't capture the incredible living quality he creates so I'm not giving a link here.) He also has some minimalist works experimenting with light that are beautiful.

3. In Focus: Ansel Adams
"A good photograph is knowing where to stand." -- Ansel Adams
Adams is famous for his silver gelatin prints that are emotive, sharp and monolithic. These were from his museum print negatives, and they were powerful. I especially liked [1] his huge print of The Golden Gate before the Golden Gate Bridge was built to span that bay, as well as [2] his powerful tribute to the Japanese interned in camps during World War II, in Mount Williamson as seen from Manzanar.

4. Hatched! Creating Form with Line
This exhibit focused on cross-hatch, stippling and hatch techniques and how artists create texture and depth with them. It also featured sketches by Van Gogh and Rembrandt. Magnifying glasses for observing more closely were provided. Soooo amazing!

The Getty's a sweet place, I'll give it that!

I guess I can mention that while I was in England, I went to the British Museum, home to a ton of artifacts all around the world. And the place is positively huge! We were only on the first floor on the one wing and we still didn't have a chance to take a close look at /everything/. Funny story: one of my friends has a fascination with Ancient Egypt and mummies especially. I have a fascination with weapons, regardless of where they're from. So I joked that the two of us made good museum buddies: she liked dead things and I liked things that made dead things. 🙂

Let's see, there was also the National Art Gallery in London. Some pretty cool artwork in there.
And the Museum of Science History (sorry if I botched that name, Ajjie) in Oxford.

While in Colorado, we visited the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. It was sort of cool, but we have a local science museum that I like more. I was especially disappointed in the mummy exhibit. I'm like your friend, Ariel. Since I can remember, I've had a serious fascination with mummies. 😀 An art museum about an hour away has a great mummy exhibit, however. 🙂

You probably would have liked the British Museum, Berry. 😀 Mummies, sarcophagi, and all sorts of super-cool stuff. Like the Rosetta Stone, for instance. 😉

I think it's something like "History of Science Museum", but that's close enough. I'm sorry I never got to the British Museum. I started thinking about going my last couple weeks in the UK but they were too packed with different activities. I nearly took a train to London one day during the last week when I was staying with friends, but I wasn't motivated by the thought of navigating London on my own 😛 I did get to see the Ashmolean in Oxford (which has world artefacts and art). The artefacts section satisfied my Classics interests, and it's big enough (I think it has some copies of stuff from the British Museum like the fresco of a Mesopotamian god that resembles Tash). It also has an Egypt section with mummies

Speaking of Oxford museums, I also went to the History of Science one with my dad when I first went over. And Silkdash and I went to the Natural History and Pitt Rivers museums. One of the best parts of the Natural History was the Alice in Wonderland display (which included a hedgehog, a flamingo and a white rabbit with a pocket watch). It also houses the famous Oxford Dodo (so-called only because that's where its kept) which is said to have inspired Lewis Carol to put a Dodo in his works.

The Pitt Rivers museum is strange. It's hard to explain unless you're actually there, but it mostly has "tribal" stuff: weapons, clothes, masks, totem poles etc. It's actually a little bit creepy.

Yeah, that name sounds correct. I guess I'd just jumbled the words around in my mind. 😀
It's a pity you didn't get to the British Museum, even if only for a day. But then, you also went to these other places that seem to have piqued your interest.
Some of the tribal stuff sounds cool, but I'd probably agree with you on the masks and totem poles. Ooh, and Tash-like Mesopotamian god would have been cool to see!

I love the British Museum -- it is so rich in scope and holdings. By the way when I was in Greece, the guide I had at the Acropolis had a lot to say about Lord Elgin's marbles that were taken from the Parthenon. Greeks want them back!