Raleigh, Durham, & Chapel Hill - Triangle Area of North Carolina

[giradman]

I had some of those toys back in the 1960s. Thanks for posting.

Hi Scifan57 - indeed, a BLAST from the PAST! I had many of those 'toys', plus others that I did not post, such as a Davy Crockett raccoon hat, tail and all! Probably, one of my favorites was the erector set - mine was an 'advanced' model w/ one or several motors - glad that you had similar memories, as I'm sure others growing up in that era viewing the post will also. Dave

 

[giradman]

Return to Umstead Hotel & the North Carolina Museum of Art - April 2021 - Part 1!

Well, Susan and I are about a month out from our 2nd COVID vaccine shots - did an overnight to Greensboro a few weeks ago and now on a 2-night trip to the Raleigh area to see an exhibit at the NC Museum of Art - staying at our favorite hotel, the Umstead in Cary, NC (first 2 pics below w/ one from our 6th floor room - had a fabulous dinner last night at their Herons restaurant, will do food in the bar tonight and then home in the late morning tomorrow.

Main reason for visit was to see the traveling exhibit at the NC Museum of Art Golden Mummies of Egypt which concentrating of later Egyptian mummification practices of the last few centuries B.C.E. into the first few of the C.E., mainly during Greco-Roman times. The pics below are a mixture of description (click on text images in not readable, most should enlarge), a variety of items from the era (jewelry, pottery, statuettes, images of the 'gods', etc.), and a LOT of mummies, masks (gold gilded and realistically painted in later centuries).

There were about a half dozen short videos to view on an assortment of topics, from Egyptian archeology, ancient cities explored, description of the gods of Egypt, and other - in the Part 2 post, I snapped some images of the brief description of the gods that I knew the best (all pics from my iPhone, cropped and edited when needed on my MacBook Air). In addition there were three or four of the mummies with interactive video monitors manipulated w/ a stylus; the correlations were based on CT and Xray imaging - quite cool, especially for a retired radiologist.

Part 2 will continue with my pics and more briefer comments - Dave

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[giradman]

Return to Umstead Hotel & the North Carolina Museum of Art - April 2021 - Part 2!

The first six images below are from the video describing the many different Egyptian gods, some adopted by the Romans and others. One of the most interesting parts of the exhibit for me were the panel portraits of individuals painted naturalistically (I show just a few below but there were over a dozen to be seen) - quote below from a nice Wiki article (link given) - when I was a first year undergrad at the U of Michigan back in the mid-60s (yes, the last century! ), I took two semesters of art history and early in the first semester this art form was a revelation to me - so much art back in those days was idealized or formulaic, but these facial panel paintings seem like portraits, and the people portrayed were so young.

There were also 4 interactive monitors (pic below of the Stela of Pawer) that were a lot of fun, especially for the kids there. A quite small gift shop was setup - we thought about buying a small 'blue hippo' but our house is just over stuffed from decades of travel collecting. We lunched at their cafeteria which was serving near eastern Mediterranean Greek-style food for the occasion - we both had the chicken pita which was excellent; plus, I had a delicious locally made beer from a Raleigh microbrewery.

For those in the area, I would highly recommend this exhibit - masks are required, but difficult to 'social distance' - having our shots made us feel a lot safer. Dave

Mummy portraits or Fayum mummy portraits are a type of naturalistic painted portrait on wooden boards attached to upper class mummies from Roman Egypt. They belong to the tradition of panel painting, one of the most highly regarded forms of art in the Classical world. The Fayum portraits are the only large body of art from that tradition to have survived. They were formerly, and incorrectly, called Coptic portraits. (Source)

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[scifan57]

Another very interesting travel story. I’ve seen documentaries showing the tombs where these mummies were found.

 

[giradman]

Another very interesting travel story. I’ve seen documentaries showing the tombs where these mummies were found.

Yep, mummies fascinate me too, ever since I saw the 1932 film The Mummy w/ Boris Karloff as a wee kid - now, even own the UHD streaming version of the first mummy film w/ Brendan Fraser from 1999. But I've been reading plenty of books over the decades on the topic, and have seen a number of documentaries, and visited plenty of museums w/ usually only a modest number of examples, EXCEPT the British Museum in London where the Greek vase and Egyptian sections w/ dozens of mummies and their canopic jars are astounding (among other huge collections). Now, I've not been to Egypt, where the 'mother lode' of the places and archeologic digs/finds exist - and unlikely to go in our retired future. Dave
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[scifan57]

Yep, mummies fascinate me too, ever since I saw the 1932 film The Mummy w/ Boris Karloff as a wee kid - now, even own the UHD streaming version of the first mummy film w/ Brendan Fraser from 1999. But I've been reading plenty of books over the decades on the topic, and have seen a number of documentaries, and visited plenty of museums w/ usually only a modest number of examples, EXCEPT the British Museum in London where the Greek vase and Egyptian sections w/ dozens of mummies and their canopic jars are astounding (among other huge collections). Now, I've not been to Egypt, where the 'mother lode' of the places and archeologic digs/finds exist - and unlikely to go in our retired future. Dave
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You could go to the British Museum every day for a month and still not see everything. They probably have the largest Egyptian collection outside Egypt.

 

[giradman]

You could go to the British Museum every day for a month and still not see everything. They probably have the largest Egyptian collection outside Egypt.

Hi Scifan.. - you are likely right! Now, I've been to the Louvre in Paris probably at least three times and another museum w/ a similar reputation - there is a huge Egyptian Department as described in the quote below, much more in the link; of course, Napoleon probably stole much of these antiquities during his North African campaigns around Egypt. BUT, either museum offers hours and hours of exploration through these ancient civilizations. Dave

The Department of Egyptian Antiquities of the Louvre is a department of the Louvre that is responsible for artifacts from the Nile civilizations which date from 4,000 BC to the 4th century. The collection, comprising over 50,000 pieces], is among the world's largest, overviews Egyptian life spanning Ancient Egypt, the Middle Kingdom, the New Kingdom, Coptic art, and the Roman, Ptolemaic, and Byzantine periods. (Source)

 

[giradman]

New UMSTEAD HOTEL Visit - July 12, 2023 (our 53rd Anniversary!)

Well, has been over 2 years since our last stay - again, we have a lakeside room with views of the wedding area and the pool. The weather prediction is not good for rain so not sure how much we'll do this times except enjoy the facilities at the hotel. Susan has develop some 'gait issues' and cannot get around easily or for long, so our activities will be more limited in the future. BUT, the food is great here, she has a spa appointment, and I'll use the exercise room a few times. IF the rain holds off, we'll use the pool (temps in the high 80s/low 90s F here ) Dave

 

[giradman]

Umstead Hotel - another Return to see the exhibit below at the North Carolina Museum of Art - in the 17th century, the Dutch Republic became a 'world power' (see quote below and check link for more), far exceeding its size, population and resources - this exhibit was arranged in various 'themes' related to Dutch history at this time with an emphasis on art, culture, trade and world influence. For those nearby a recommended visit.

The following four posts are meant to put these themes in perspective with a lot of pics, many of the written ones go along with the previous images shown and should be fairly obvious - the history given was concise so click on the written material to enlarge. Dave

Dutch Republic, formally Republic of the United Netherlands, Dutch Republiek der Verenigde Nederlanden, (1588–1795), state whose area comprised approximately that of the present Kingdom of the Netherlandsand which achieved a position of world power in the 17th century. The republic consisted of the seven northern Netherlands provinces that won independence from Spain from 1568 to 1609, and it grew out of the Union of Utrecht (1579), which was designed to improve the military capability of its signatories within the larger union of the rebelling provinces. As the southern provinces (later Belgium and Luxembourg) were recovered by Spain, however, the provinces bound by the Utrecht pact became a new, independent state. (Source)

 

[giradman]

Dutch Art - Part 1 - beginning of the exhibit except for the timeline (which was at the end) which was an easy and quick summary of Dutch history, even in 2023 with the current king of the Netherlands apologizing for the country's past role in the slavery trade. Dave
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[giradman]

Dutch Art - Part 2 - the trade maps are fascinating and were interactive, as seen when the ones related tobacco and tea were activated. Dave

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[giradman]

Dutch Art - Part 3 - a lot of interesting discussion and art work but for me the prints and paintings by Rembrandt were the highlight - Susan and I have collected a lot of original prints over the decades an he was truly on of the early great masters in this genre. Dave

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[giradman]

Dutch Art - Part 4 - the finish of a wonderful exhibit! A small gift shop was available at the end with plenty of souvenirs - Susan bought a nice tee shirt (with still life flowers from one of the paintings) and a refrigerator magnet to add to our already HUGE collection - this time a Rembrandt self-portrait. Dave

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