BenTha'er-Horizons

Museums

Vasa Museum Sweden

Bob and I visited a fascinating museum when we visited Stockholm Sweden in 1997 on a travel trip from Stockholm over to Norway. We saw a lot of the countryside on the drive across.The food selection was better than Norway at that time in restaurants and not as expensive.
While in Stockholm we took a sightseeing boat around the harbor and at one stop went to see the Vasa Museum. The ship in the museum is enclosed in a large dark architectural building. When one enters, you get to see the story of how this ship was sunk in the harbor and raised to become part of the museum. One of the best places to visit I have been.
The following is a description in an article on different museums plus a photo of the museum on the right looking from the harbor.

A massive wooden warship might not seem like most people's first choice for a museum, but then again Sweden has never done things by the book. The Vasa Museum displays an almost fully-intact 17th-century ship, which sunk in 1628 and has since been salvaged. The museum was built around the ship, which stands on a dry dock. You can tour the ship and the accompanying exhibits that detail its history for an engaging and awe-inspiring experience.

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Fashion Museum Display

I came across this fascinating video of women's fashion/dresses over time morphing from one style to another. The display is from the Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands. I cannot speak Dutch and the site is written in Dutch. The video and pictures are worth viewing though here.
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Atomic Ghosts

Well, the old Cold War is over and they are now putting together remnants and historical artifacts of that time into a historical park. It does seem a bit eerie. Are we on the verge of a new Cold War but with Arab nations in the Middle East? The photos are fascinating and this article is a bit of a jaunt back into our recent history related to nuclear weapons and our relationship with or against the Soviet Union. What would Stalin say?
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EMP Museum

We toured the EMP (Experience Music Project) Museum at the Seattle Center. We stood in line for an hour to do the 4-D Game of Thrones Climb the Wall Experience of 1 minute. They had everyone sign a release of risk and warned of problems due to the experience. I thought it was a bit ho hum and the movie Friday night in 3-D and being near the front of the theatre was more disconcerting. More alarming standing in line trying to save my knee than looking through the 4-D goggles.
Went to the Fantasy, SciFi, and Horror Movie sections. "Here Be Dragons"……..

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Halifax Harbour

Today was our day to visit Halifax since we will hit the road early to see a Ceilidh in Judique on Cape Breton Island. We love celtic music and this area is certainly a center of it. Many good artists come from this region.

But I jump ahead. This morning we toured The Citadel. This is the main fortress on top of a hill overlooking Halifax harbour. It is now a tourist site yet was an active fortification for 200 years. There were many young men in dress uniform performing tasks. In questioning, we find that they are students primarily working and performing a role and not active military. They seem to do a good job and certainly appear authentic. The following is a picture of the Clock Tower at the base of the Citadel with the Convention Center just behind along with Halifax Harbour even farther in the distance. The Clock Tower is very distinctive landmark in the city.

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The Citadel was established in 1746 and the Noon Gun has been fired every day since 1856, maybe even since the 1700’s. We were fortunate to watch the military ceremony to load and fire the Noon Gun. You can see from this picture below how they were set up to fire.

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The Pipes and Drum corps were on hand at shortly after noon to play a rousing group of songs. I can see why at one time they banned the bagpipes as a war weapon since it can be rousing to follow the call of the pipes and drums. A great way to get in the mood for our celtic journey.

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The rest of the afternoon was spent touring the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. It had a lot of interesting exhibits under its roof. Two that caught my interest were one-- the display on the ships and people who laid communication cable from Nova Scotia or Newfoundland across the Atlantic to Britain or France over the last 100 years plus. Dangerous work with a need for many skills. One cable ship responded to the Titanic disaster since they were better able to retrieve the bodies that were found from the ocean surface. The other exhibit covered the terrible disaster that hit Halifax on the morning of December 6, 1917. A French munitions ship, the Mont Blanc, was entering the harbor and was hit by a Norwegian vessel, the Imo. A fire started and burned on the Mont Blanc. The French sailors knew the danger and left the ship to take shelter in nearby woods. Many of the people in Richmond (this section of Halifax) were unsuspecting or went to sightsee. A massive explosion leveled the area killing thousands and injuring possibly 25,000. A personal note in a film shown at the museum said one family lost 25 members. So very sad.

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