M.O.L.D.

At home, Ethan calls the Monte L. Bean museum the "museum of dead life" and our kids were so impressed by it that they named the Naturhistorischesmuseum the Museum Of Living Death. Rob brought Maddie and Will here last year, and in fact these pictures are recycled from that trip because we've run our camera completely out of battery only to discover that we can't find the charger anywhere. Back to the topic at hand, Maddie has been begging to return to the Naturhistorischesmuseum since we got here, and we decided to go on Wednesday night, when it is open until 9:00pm. It's also a wonderful place to go when it's raining because it's all inside and absolutely mammoth. We were surprised once again at how much the kids liked it. There is a small section with live fish, frogs, birds and bugs, but it is tiny and only takes 15-20 minutes.
The mineral collection is immense, however. It is all catalogued and displayed in the most pleasing, wood and glass cases that make you feel secure in the importance of the Austro-Hungarian empire. You can just imagine people from all over bringing samples of their native rocks and minerals to present to the emperor (perhaps these were all bought at auction from Sotheby's, but I can still imagine it). And here is Will with his birthstone, the topaz which he discovered last summer; he felt very connected to this topaz and couldn't wait to see it again this time around.
We did finally make it to the dinosaurs and the prehistoric humans and we got to see the Venus of Willendorf this time around(Rob felt a kinship, having spent last Saturday in the feuerwehr in Willendorf keeping out of the rain -- the kids just thought she was freakish). Joss was getting tired of sitting in the stroller, so we let him out to walk around and make people laugh; people laugh whenever he is walking around, we've found. He threw his blanket over his head and bumped into cases. We finished up with the reptiles, amphibians and fish, and landed here in the auditorium for labs and microscopes. Even if the collection stank, the surroundings are so amazing you wouldn't notice it. We left walking right through the middle of a fancy dinner they were holding at the cafe around the rotunda: a Spargelessen or asparagus meal. How can you take a people seriously who celebrate asparagus with its own meal? How can you help but love them?
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Comments

klooslip said…
This is one of my favorite museums in Vienna. I just love the old cabinets and the beautiful floors.
1:38 PM
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