Field Trip to Ur

Coolest moment: Walking in and seeing the headdress that we had made way back during Story of the World 1 (although I think the actual project was in the Usborne history book instead of SOTW). Can you even believe we're seeing the actual headdress? Just like the one VKid1 made and wore around the house!

Other cool things: Cuneiform. Remember when we took the wet clay and wrote on it with a stylus? Look! Here it is! And remember the cylinder seals? They're all over the place here!

VDad also liked the long gold drinking tube believed to be used so the people of Ur could drink their beer and avoid the sediment floating on top. He was overtaken with the idea of the ancient frat parties of Ur, guzzling beer through those long straws. Educational moment -- things floating on top mean it was more of an ale, at least according to VDad.

Bad moment: I was the only one who could tell where Ur was without looking at the map at the beginning of the tour. Yoohoo, how many dozen maps of this region did we color during SOTW1? And now we can't even remember which continent it's on? Dang.

After we felt we had done enough Ur-ing, we wandered around the rest of the museum for a while. Downstairs we found a giant wardrobe from Germany -- VKid2 has been asking what, exactly, a wardrobe is, and we got rid of our chiffarobe years ago (we haven't seen the movie yet; VKid1 just finished reading The Magician's Nephew to VKid2).

And, there on the main floor, like a sign from God, was Monet's Waterlilies. Unfortunately, I had left my yarn in the car, so I was unable to compare colors. Now I really MUST finish this shawl so I can wear it into the museum and compare (of course, "you need to either keep your wrap on or check it at the coatcheck; you may not carry it around the museum"). I had decided to finish it anyway, since my main motive in making it was that our church sanctuary is so freakishly cold and drafty that I'm investing in new long underwear to make it through the services (ironic to move south and THEN need to buy long underwear, but I think the locals don't know how to insulate and/or heat). Also, it's an absolutely mindless pattern to knit, so I can read while I knit. I couldn't do that with the Flared Smoke Ring, and it was tough. On the downside, I still think the color looks more like Pond Scum or maybe Moldy Basement Carpet instead of Waterlilies.