Oh, I’d forgotten the baths in Bath. Amazing, and I was there 30 years ago, I believe the exhibits have been through a refresh since then.
Almost certainly; the museum exhibits all seemed pretty new. I should also mention the great audio tour, which included color commentary written and read by Bill Bryson, who is one of my favorite writers.
One of my other favorite bits was the display of lead foil scrolls with curses written on them that were tossed into the pools by the Roman pilgrims as part of their prayers to Athena. They were quite…specific, in the vein of “My neighbor ruined my best cloak. May his penis shrivel and fall off.” In form, if not in content, they reminded me strongly of the bits of paper with intercessionary prayers that are stuffed into cracks in the Western Wall in Jerusalem by religious Jews.
I think we’ll go back once the kids are out of college.
A great-great grandfather of mine was incarcerated at Andersonville. He lived through it but he told his granddaughter, (My maternal grandmother) that off and on, for the rest of his life, he had problems with his digestion and bowels, due to poor food and contaminated water. Also, when the guards felt abusive, as they often did, the gut was an easy target to kick.
I’d be hard stretched to call it anything other than a history museum. It’s very explicitly about exploring the manufacturing history of pre-industrial America. You’re right about the inaccessible maze of narrow passages and head-bumping nightmare but I found plenty of explanatory material scattered through the museum.
I’ll take your word for the explanatory material. I confess it’s been a few years since I’ve been there, so my memory must be faulty.
My parents live in nearby Warrington, and we’ll be out for a visit this summer, so maybe we’ll check it out again. Whatever it is, it is without doubt quite something to see.
The National Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson AFB is probably the best you’re going to see in the United States. They have more aircraft than they can display and routinely rotate some spectacular stuff.
Gosh yes. When I was a kid here, the local museum had stuff you could touch, and stuff you were actually allowed to touch. To keep you seperate from the stuff you could, but shouldn’t, touch, every room had a museum guard. And, lacking any other activity to keep them occupied, those guards would talk about their exhibits, and about other people they had met associated with those exhibits.
Big disapointment when I started visiting bigger and more modern museums, where there is no one to talk to, and you are separated from the exhibits by glass, or distance and touch-sensitive alarms. My own museum has been modernised like that now.
I’ve asked my husband to take me to Bath for my 50th birthday.
A big second on this one. I love the Henry Ford Museum. The enormous steam engines that were used to power factories are very impressive to see up close. Some of the flywheels on them were probably 30 feet in diameter:
http://thehenryford.org/museum/america.aspx
I noticed when visiting the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, as great as that museum also is, it only had tiny models of same.
Another vote for the Nimitz museum. It’s a absolute hidden gem, the beautiful country side makes for a lovely drive to it, the museum is great, and Fredericksburg is a really terrific little town. I would love to retire there.
There’s also a pretty good number of places serving good German & Texas style food in Fredericksburg, and a lot of Texas wineries nearby, as well as really delicious fresh peaches if you go in the proper time of year.