We left Katy on Wednesday afternoon, piled into Mom-in-law's Prius, and headed off to Dallas to visit the King Tut exhibit at the museum and to visit Ann Margaret, a long-time family friend of Christina's family. The weather was beautiful, the ride was nice and smooth, and it was quite enjoyable.
However, we discovered upon arrival that it's important to have the correct address when searching for directions on Google Maps. If you don't have the right address, then you'll end up in the wrong place. Imagine that! However, we weren't terribly far off, so the delay was minimal. Ann's house was in a stately and elegant part of Dallas, and it was just gorgeous. It was great to hang out with her, even during the short time we were there, and then we all went straight to bed.
The next morning dawned bright and clear. We loaded up the car again and made our way towards the museum. The directions were correct this time, and we found the place with little fuss. Parking was a breeze, and we got in line as instructed. We opted to watch the movie about the exhibit first, rather than afterwards. It was the first time I've seen a 3D movie that really worked! It was pretty cool.
There were well over a hundred pieces in the exhibit, many of which had never been seen in the exhibit before. The artistry was amazing...some of the items were so incredibly intricate in their design, I couldn't imagine how long it had taken their craftsmen to create. One piece that stood out was the yellow glass scarab. The carved scarab was the centerpiece on one of King Tut's ornate chest-pieces. Apparently, the glass had not been created by human hands, but by an ancient meteorite strike in the Sahara desert instead, and it seems to glow with a faint inner light. The glass itself was many thousands of years older than the Egyptian culture. Coooooool.
One thing I never knew was the fact that Tut's actual mummy was protected by series of nesting boxes and sarcophagi. I can only imagine what it must have been like to stumble upon that magnificent tomb, filled with all of its treasures and links to the distant past. Wow.
Here we are in front of the exhibit banner:
And here's Connor being...well...Connor.
As much as I might enjoy seeing antiquities and great art, I'm not one who enjoys walking around aimlessly, hoping to see something cool. This is probably a character flaw of mine, but I usually end up feeling like I'm missing something, or that I'd rather be elsewhere.
That being said, I'm so very glad that we went on this trip. As we walked around the area of more modern art (last 200 years or so), I rounded a corner and saw a painting that I recognized...at least, I knew that I had seen it before. Checking the info plaque, I saw that it was a Mary Cassat, 'The Reading Lesson'. I recognized it because our 7-year-old had done a presentation on the artist.
Here's Connor and Grandma Julie in front of the painting.
Somehow, it all came alive for me then. I got a close up look at the painting, and saw the thousands of tiny brushstrokes that, together, created the image. I moved to the next painting, and stood looking at it for a moment.
'Children in the Woods', by Frank W. Benson in 1898, slowly moved me to tears. How someone could take a blank canvas, and, using nothing more than pigments on a palette and a handful of brushes, create such a beautiful scene from nothing more than a mental image...astonishing.
After that, I enjoyed everything much more than before. I saw Van Gogh's, Monet's, Picasso's, and even some Jackson Pollack's. Very, very cool.
There was a wonderful Maya exhibit as well, but that area smelled like dog poo and dirty feet. Weird. The pieces were fantastic, though, especially after Christina and Connor's trip to Mexico.
The ride home was uneventful, and the weather was great. We made great time, and Christina was astonished to find that I have some of 'her' music on my mp3 player. Hey, it's not ALL Kelly Clarkson!
Spring Break draws to a close, and it's been fun. Take care, folks!
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