Wowzers it was so good to get into a museum again...its been so busy recently I have missed going out and gawping at some of the wonderful things in our museums again.
Today, after a full and happy Christmas holiday we spent the day in Oxford. Am on a mission to get into towns more and see what they have to offer by way of culture! Living rurally now I forget just how much I need imput as does any artist and today I got some in spades.
We did the old park and ride, catching the bus into Oxford town centre - bonza as I really have no idea of where to head at all. The children LOVED the bus (and actually so did we) We met our pals in the Pitt Rivers Museum..and sucked in all the items and thier stories. Loved it all. Reminded me a little of The Horniman Museum but am guessing the similarities are such that two kindly world collectors shared their collections at around the same time, they probably would.
The Horniman Museum in South London was a Godsend on those horrid rainy days where you desperatly need something to do with bionic toddlers - it was our regular date place to see mates and hang out in the coffee shop. Full to the brim with stuffed animals, I loved it and so did my babes. During the last year or two of my plodding around with overstuffed buggies they added an aquarium in the basement, all hail The Horniman, I miss it muchly.
Anyway, onward with today. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed it. Also thoroughly enjoyable was seeing it all through my children's eyes too. Leaving the Pitt Rivers Museum feeling slightly spooked out by the shrunken heads (eugh!) we headed off to Wagamamas for noodles...nice. Full and feeling internally smug at the huge queues waiting to get in..off to the shops for some retail therapy with a teenager that needed a new handbag. Two tops later and one nice dress I spotted we met up with the boys at Shakespears, where they were feeding the children hot chocolates...phew we only just got to them in time for a near-last slug.
Next up off to The Ashmoleon. Beautiful, Beautiful. We took a wonderful look at the Dutch painters of the early 18th Century. The gallery was full and busy which is great to see.
Gawping lovingly at the masterpieces on offer (too many to list) came to a sharp end as my daughter (4 yrs) announced to the gallery that she needed a poo (nice) and we whizzed off like lightning.
A fab day all round and excellant to suck in some culture...
