Visit a museum once a month

My associate liked the ginger flavored soda from Africa the best. I preferred some of the refreshing apple flavor soda from Peru. We both liked the carrot flavored soda from Japan. We did not like the African Mint soda or the Italian soda that tasted like Alka Seltzer. There were over 70 sodas from around the world and our stomachs were turning after the first two continents. We learned that the original coke formula was invented in 1886 in Atlanta. Two years later a smart marketing guy tried the soda, bought the company and grew distribution. The information on marketing was worth the trip: creative marketing grew the company more than any other company attribute. That investment includes the impressive new World of Coke Museum that we visited. The 4D show was better than most Disney shows, the history exhibit was slick (and never mentioned the secret ingredient of the original formula), the kids lined up to get their photos with the Coke Polar Bear and every turn was a carefully crafted commercial that also entertained. I was surprised to learn how many products are Coke including Odawalla, Poweraid, Minute Maid, Godiva coffee drinks and even the canned green tea that I find only when I travel in Japan.

I accidentally visited the Stain Glass Museum. I was exploring the pier in Chicago with my son. Passing the McDonald’s, Starbuck’s and Great American Dog, the path opened up into the largest collection of stain glass in the world. What an unlikely and interesting discovery tucked between the parking garage and the fried dough concessions! Some of the windows reminded me of quilts creating mosaic patterns from colored glass. One window had huge chunks of glass jutting out in a third dimension and bending the light carried on the jutting pieces. The Tiffany windows were especially beautiful with swirling colors in panes of glass assembled in landscapes and flowers. I thought Tiffany made geometric lamps, and there were some of those too. There was a large collection of Frank Lloyd Wright designs and an endless collection of church windows. Some of the rooms were dark with the window lit from behind. Several widows were mounted so that the sunlight illuminated them with the Chicago Lake Front beyond.

This museum just keeps getting better! The new climbing structure is so great that my thirteen year old daughter quickly followed my six year old son, forgetting all the previous conversations about being allowed to be part of the adult team. We spent over 6 hours in the museum, including lunch at Au Bon Pain which is a big improvement over the McDonalds. The green roof was especially interesting to me. In 2007, a green roof was installed which looks like a field of trays covering a flat rooftop. Benefits include lower inside temperatures during summer, less rain run off, a small contribution to reducing green house gasses and statistically significant improvement in the mental and physical health of office workers who have a view of the green rooftop instead of the usual flat tar rooftop.

The castle is a blast. Hammond was rich, imaginative and capable. On a steep slope of Gloucester waterfront, he built a castle complete with towers, drawbridge, great hall and secret passages. To the end of the great hall, he attached pieces of a medieval town, including the front of a bakery, a butcher and a church around a covered courtyard with a pool. The house construction includes floors, fireplaces, walls, ceilings, organs, bookcases, medieval stain glass windows and other stuff he and his wife collected with their abundant wealth and mutual love of art and history. The dining room has an authentic French ceiling, German walls and an Italian Floor. One of the bedrooms has a floor that was in the Columbus family and a secret passage in the back of the corner daybed connected to the basement. During their lifetime Hammond and his wife opened the house as a museum and it is full of their amazing stuff gathered to bursting in a disorganized clutter that is fun and inspiring.

When we went to Sainte-Chapelle (built in 1248), we looked up at the hundreds of stained glass windows speckled with faces, animals, buildings and other images. The windows start above the tall painted walls and stretch up fifty feet to the vaulted roof. We gazed at the spectacular display and discussed the patterns, the colors, the arrangement of the panels on one end of the church and the amazing patterns in the round window above the door.

The next day, we were on our way to the Louvre and we stopped in at the small museum near the hotel because we could get in for free with our four day museum pass. What a nice surprise. There were stain glass panels from churches of the same period as Sainte-Chapelle. Look at the detail! There are expressions in the faces and textures in the cloth. In the chapel, we did not see any of this resolution that the artists created hundreds of years ago and placed almost a hundred feet high. This easily overlooked museum captured a piece of a lost church and brought it down so we can see up close the amazing detail that must be in every one of those thousands of panels.

This museum is so big and so much that I could use a whole memory card with photos of violins. It is interesting to me that the violins have not changed much. The bows are different (this bow looks more like a bow & arrow kind of bow). The chin rest is a somewhat new invention and the shoulder rest is very modern (both are missing in this painting).

I’ve been to the Louvre three times. It is hard to figure out how to connect with all the hype and the crowds. My son connected with the historical event paintings. I connected with the music paintings.

It is unbelievable that I am able to visit such an amazing museum. Non flash photos are allowed, so I took shots of things that caught my attention. Perhaps I’ll find more words when I’ve had time to process the data.

I renewed our family membership which gets us into both Children’s Museums and Science Museums. Then we dug dinosaur bones, raced lego cars and watched a planetarium show. In the show story, it is 2075 and a grandfather from Earth is sharing earth facts with his two grandchildren who were born and raised on the moon. The children can never visit earth because their bodies are tuned to the lower moon gravity. I wonder about the confinement of such an existence. I would go crazy. After a few years in the moon colony, the grandfather cannot return either. But, he explains, he is more comfortable and will live longer with the lower stress on his joints and muscles. That is interesting. My husband’s parents are haunted with bad backs, bad knees and bad hips. They don’t need a large house, a green yard or a variety of scenery, just internet and some social interactions. The controlled environment would be fine and the lower gravity would be liberating. I have never wanted to travel in space, but perhaps when I am done with this world and the gravity weighs me down, I might consider a one way trip to the moon. I did not expect to bump into big ideas. I was just trying to entertain my six year old in this week between school and camp.

The zoo was an explosion of spring and especially beautiful. The weather was warm and breezy. It was Tuesday and the park was fairly empty except for large flocks of school kids and a few clusters of seniors. My six year old son and I would be alone for long stretches and then surrounded by swarms of youths that arrived loud, but moved on quickly. All of the rides were running and the lines were short so we used our zoo pass as we pleased to ride the gondola, carousel and tram. My son was excited by the numerous male peacocks wandering the grounds waving their impressive tails at the coy females. I liked watching the American bison rest in the warm spring sun, the snow leopard stretch out like a house cat in the grass and the giraffes reach up to dine on young leaves.

This museum is across the street from the Detroit car company that I visit for work. It was a target of opportunity, so I walked over at lunchtime. (Walking, in Detroit! Outrageous!) This museum has great information about cars: the early inventions, the gradual improvements and the current trends. The museum also discussed the innovations that occurred as a part of the automotive success: roads, labor unions, support networks, car rental companies, advertising and others. Most of the displays were about American innovations, but there were a few displays on Germany and Japan. I enjoyed looking at the craftsmanship of the older automobiles and marveling at the relatively short time period that has elapsed since the original car (around 1893) to the modern car (arguably with the automatic starter in 1939). I was startled by the gigantic 1960 Cadillac which was on display. How could it turn? Where would it park? How big was the gas tank? I am in Detroit to study a Super Duty truck which seems enormous compared to my Japanese commuter car, but this four seat car was much longer and wider than the largest of the trucks.