The place is massive, in a building that was originally put together for the Chicago World's Fair. On walking in you're greeted with a steam train, a jumbo jet hanging from the ceiling, and a place where they make weather indoors. That's just the entrance hall. There's also a planetarium, a coal mine, and a genetics lab. Oh, and a whole submarine!
I spent a good five hours wandering about the place. I did skip where they showed you lots of bits from inside the human body because, you know, that's disgusting. I got to drive a Mars Rover, and sit underneath some lightning, and watch a chick hatch out of an egg! Who'd have thought that science could be as fun as theology? Tomorrow I'll be spending the day in Chicago cathedral.
I met Hannah at the end of her conference. Chevron stopped paying for us today, so we moved out of the city to the Wicker Park neighbourhood and the Urban Holiday Lofts hostel. This is more our thing: you don't have to pay to use Internet or the fridge, unlike unfriendly Sheraton. And the area is full of bars and restaurants, trendy and up-and-coming. Like Walnut Creek but with more tattoo parlours.
Here's the building, which was the Palace of Fine Arts for the World's Fair.
Inside. You see? Huge!
It's so big it has Seattle inside it.
This was the first vehicle in the world to travel at over 100 miles per hour. Well, so some people claim.
Stephenson's Rocket, a fine steam engine built in the North East of England (this is a replica, built there too).
This is the model that that Watson and Crick put together on discovering DNA. I'm not sure it's the original...I think London claims to have that one.
But here's a photo of them with one that looks very similar.
Hmmm...I'll think about it...
It's a chick hatching! I came back later and he'd managed it.
Previous successes.
Finally.
A tornado, indoors!
I wasn't particularly impressed with me.
Here's that submarine, German U-boat U-505 that was captured during WWII and towed to Bermuda. It has a pretty good story. But no photos allowed inside :(
Torpedoes away!
This is an actual space craft, one of the ones that orbited the earth as part of the Mercury program, with Scott Carpenter inside.
A Mars Rover.
Me being filmed on the surface of Mars.
Moon rock. If you believe that stuff.
There was a big farming section too.
How a cow works.
I was not the first distinguished visitor to this museum. Here's QEII, in 1959.
Ants, who farm these aphids for the sugary juice they make. Clever.
More exhibits this way.
A Benz car before he joined up with Mr Mercedes.
A new shirt that, at the touch of a button, makes you feel like you're being hugged. Soon we'll need no direct human contact whatsoever, which can only be a good thing.
Far better future clothing - Lieutenant Uhura's Star Trek uniform.
Lightning, inside!
Where we live.
Remember those chicks from earlier, well here's Colonel Sanders - the Colonel Sanders - holding chick number 525,000 when he visited the museum. History does not record what he did with it afterwards, but I think we can all guess.
