I'm starting with this picture because as nonsensical as it is - the entrance sign by the exit sign, very "not Swiss!", as my dad would say - it represents our afternoon yesterday.
We decided to eat lunch before heading to the museum. After two and a half hours in the car - trips always go slowly for me when I am a passenger - I wanted to munch. We went to the vegetarian place Mr. RK had looked up and - alas - it had 1) no air conditioning, 2) no interest in our presence, and 3) really annoying Bob Marley music playing. When it's 87 degrees, I don't know about you, but my vote is to change course. So a happy accident - we found a neat little cafe downtown that overlooked the South Sound.
Only problem: it was impossible to get back to the place where we needed to go to get to the museum. Which, maddeningly, was about 400 yards away.
First of all, we asked our waitress for directions. She replied, "Oh, Ken's the owner, I don't really get out much." No sign of Ken. She doesn't get down the street? Are you fucking kidding me? So essentially her answer was, "No."
Then we tried to figure it out with our map. The bridge we needed to use was closed, and the other way the map showed to get there was wrong. So needless to say, Mr. RK was quite pissed off at this point.
We called the museum. No one answered the phone. I tried the trick of pushing zero and it told me to leave a detailed message. What the fuck? "Um, hello, I'm lost on 9th Avenue and Commerce Street, hopefully I won't be here if and when you decide to return my call."
We drove around and around (and around) and finally found a side street that took us to the museum. Hooray! Arrival! Then we drove past the parking garage. Which they charged for.
You know how most big museums have signs outside, on nearby blocks? Not this one.
Oh well. When we finally did get there they had a surprise free admission afternoon, but we made a $20 donation anyway. The museum itself was surprisingly small - I found more stuff to look at in the gift shop - but they had a very cool "Bridge of Glass" outside. Huge sculptures that looked like giant blue swizzle sticks...
...and along the sides of the bridge, glass artwork encased in - you guessed it - glass...
...and at the end, overhead, glass art overhead that made it look like you were under a glass ocean.
Even the fountains outside had neat glass sculptures...
...and some interesting visitors.
We ended the day with yummy Mexican food with no nutritional value whatsoever. So I'm looking forward to the beach tomorrow, but today, I am looking forward to staying put and not getting lost.
17 comments:
Love the glass fountains. Looks like an interesting place, once you finally found it.
I think the highlight for me would have been the Mexican food.
Oh I do not understand the appeal of Bob Marley either!
Now I really want to go! The glass bridge looks cool.
Mexican food is the BEST way to allocate your useless calories!
Hey RK, this is such a cool museum I know my daughter will definitely enjoy this place :D
I don't want to go here, but I must: those "strange visitors" look suspiciously like the "bad" Terminator in the second movie of the same name...
Nice pics. Sounds like a fun day. And I'm totally down with the Mexican food.
I had the same problem in London trying to get to the IMAX theatre. We could see it, but there was roadwork and stuff, and it was hard to find our way across.
If I went to this glass museum, I would end up buying half of it, I'm so clumsy.
Wow those duck things are cool!
Love glass art... did they have any Chihuly?
Almost everything had some Chihuly - all of the bridge stuff in fact. Personally, I was disappointed in the fact that most of the stuff was done by him and another artist who had an exhibit there, as opposed to letting other artists have more space.
Sometimes those little excursions turn out to be the most fun.
I have an old friend who use to write a newspaper column and he decide to go to every country seat in the state then go to the nearest restaurant and interview the first person he met.
He has some really good columns, I wish I had saved them.
They would have come in handy while blogging.. :D
GT: That would be so fun to read those!
FB: Don't worry - almost everything was encased in (you guessed it) glass.
That's twice I read about museums today. I need to get my kids to one soon!
Btw, I'd love to own something by Chihuly. He's awesome.
Cool pix!
That glass art is amazing. We are very fortunate to have a great Arts center here... and it's easy to find.
There's nothing better than a plate of cheese topped Mexican food to end a day in the city. Yumm!
Holy shit. The glass stuff is shit cool. o.O
Mexican food is nutritious loads. How can food that have such cool names be bad for you, dude.
/random
PS: I left you a present on my blog this morning!!
Even I get out more than that damn waitress.
By the way, why is it that they make brass monkeys but never glass monkeys?? Hmm. :(
Silly me, logging in as Scarlet. Must be all the vino tinto flowing through my veins!
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