One thing that I really love about Chicago is its wonderful museums. I also don’t visit them nearly often enough. With life and my own carelessness interfering, I’ve had to kick myself hard over missing two exhibitions that I would have truly enjoyed.
There is a billboard that I see every work day as I get off the highway downtown. It often advertises the current or upcoming special exhibition at the Museum of Science and Industry (MSI). I am slightly puzzled about the special attraction opening tomorrow, Harry Potter: The Exhibition. Being neither scientific nor industrial, nor even real, it doesn’t seem to me to quite fit in the venue. I am sure it will be very popular, though. It does appear to feature many items from the Harry Potter movies, so I guess if it includes such things as the special effects and animatronics used for the mythical creatures, that’s technological enough to be appropriate for MSI.
Understand that despite the worldwide popularity of the Harry Potter books and movies, I have not read a single one of the books, nor have I seen more than a trailers’ worth of any of the movies. Despite the assurances of many people whose taste and judgment I usually agree with that they were worth a look, I just had absolutely no interest. That makes me fairly unusual, though not unique by any means.
So my visit to MSI might be postponed until the next special attraction arrives. But! Remember those exhibitions I missed over the last couple of years? It looks like I am being given a second chance at seeing both of them at museums within easy driving distance!
Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit is at the Milwaukee Public Museum until May 25. That means I’ll have to nail down a date and actually do some non-careless planning pretty quickly. I have always been interested in the Titanic disaster, and even more so in the recovery of artifacts. I had no intention of ever watching the movie, but the underwater scenes at the beginning just sucked me in, and I was shocked to find myself absolutely loving it. The Titanic exhibition was at MSI in 2000 and 2002, so you see I have stupidly missed it not just once, but twice, in Chicago. Milwaukee is only about an hour and a half away, so this is obviously a sign that I definitely have to see it this time.
Indianapolis is about three hours away, and good things don’t seem to happen to me once I cross the state line into Indiana, but it could be worth the trip anyway this time to see Tutankhamun The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis.
Unlike the Titanic exhibition, which I managed to miss totally and completely, I have seen Tutankhamun relics before. I did stupidly miss the current exhibition when it came to the Field Museum in 2006, but I saw the original Treasures of Tutankhamun exhibition, also at the Field Museum, in 1977. That was also probably the last time I willingly waited in a long line for hours, and wasn’t pissed off about it. I was also fortunate enough to get the opportunity to visit it again the following year on a vacation to Seattle. I understand that the gold death mask is no longer allowed out of Egypt and thus not part of the current tour, so I feel very lucky to have been able to see the original exhibition twice.
Again, the relative proximity of this museum is a sign that I must not screw up again!