Monday’s Musings- Museum Madness!

Well, I think that I should keep up with entries that focus on the more cultured part of my experience. What do you think? I don’t know as I’m writing this what you’re actually thinking, so I’m sorry if you disagree with my choice. I tried to include you in the decision making process; that’s what counts!

So. I went to three museums on Saturday in Colchester with Madeline and Lauren. “That is amazing,” I’m sure you’re saying. “I am so glad that she is going to write about museums!” They weren’t overly exciting, though. We first went to The Castle Museum, as seen here. This is the biggest and oldest Norman keep still standing in England! Neat! But the museum was aimed for people probably about 10 years our... junior. We could have tried on hats and togas and looked at ourselves in mirrors. Alas, we did not. There was also a creepy prison area where we got to hear a reenactment of a 15 year old girl being tortured until she testified that her mother and several other women were witches. We found out later on by reading a plaque that those women were all hanged! There was also a plaque that read “Feel the wood on the door that has been worn smooth by the hundreds of prisoners begging to be let free!” Well. That was not the cheeriest area of the museum.

Here are some warriors. They looked pretty fierce, but apparently I was the only one who was frightened. Everyone else looks so at ease! I also learned about Boudica, a woman who led a surprisingly effective revolt against the Romans after soldiers did bad things to her and her daughters. There’s actually a statue I saw of her in London previously. I wondered who she was, and now know her sort of depressing, but also impressive story! If you’d like to know more, I suggest Wikipedia. Though there is also a movie, apparently. Because we all know how good movies are at accurately representing the past! My favorite part of the museum was probably the well in front. (It was so deep! Like some of these blog entries!)

The second museum we went to was a “Natural History Museum.” I didn’t trust it first because it smelled too good. It had this wonderfully fruity aroma which could not be natural. My distrust was understandable. There were loads of dead animals that had been expertly stuffed. There were even dead bugs. However, all the local wildlife was represented, which I applaud. They didn’t forget the lowliest sparrow or tiniest mouse! Then we went to the Hollytrees Museum. It wasn’t too exciting, but we did get to draw profile silhouettes. Lauren was definitely the pro-profile sketcher of the group. We also got to see children’s toys throughout the centuries. My favorite ones were the Star Wars toys. There you have it. Hooray for smallish city museums!