Califoregon Living

We just returned from a fun day in the city!  The King Tut Exhibit at the De Young Museum is only around for one more month, so we decided to go with my friend Jodi (homeschool mom who lives at our apartment), her kids, and her friend, Nancy, (homeschool mom, visiting from Oregon), and her kids.

We were not allowed to take pictures inside the exhibit., so I had to pull these photos from another location.

Did you know?

• Tutankhamen became king at the age of 9?
• He died at the age of 19 from unknown causes?
• As a part of the mummification process, the organs were stored in a chest, urn, or box?
• King Tut may have married his half sister?
• Also as a part of the mummification process, the embalmers broke the nose and picked out the brain with a hook through the nasal cavity?
• King Tut’s mummy was encased in no less than 10 coffins, sarcophagus, boxes?
• There were two infant mummies in King Tut’s tomb that scientist speculate were Tut’s stillborn daughters?
• That the tomb consisted of four rooms: the antechamber, the annex, the burial chamber, and the treasury?
• Howard Carter, a British archeologist , was the man who discovered the tomb?
• The ancient egyptians believed that a pharoah upon his death was elevated to a God.  They loaded up items in the tombs that would help the pharoah in the next world?
• The egyptian writing, called hieroglyphics, has a symbol called the ‘ankh’.  It means "life".  This symbol is all over the treasures in the tomb.
•  All of the treasures in the exhibition are more than 3,000 years old!

‘A’s favorite item to see was Tut’s dagger.  This was attached at King Tut’s waist when they found him…

‘R’s favorite is the sarcophagus of Tjuya, speculated to be Tut’s great-great grandmother.  This was not found in his personal tomb, but was a part of the Valley of the Kings.  This was laying in a glass case and is about seven feet long.

My favorite was to see the royal crook and flail.  To see the two iconic symbols that represent the "boy king" is pretty cool, considering their age and that a piece of glass separated me from them.

By the way, King Tut’s mummy nor any of his coffins or sarcophagus were in the exhibit.  Apparently, they cannot leave Egypt.

After the exhibit, between the gift shop and the exit, is a little garden.  These pictures do not do it justice, but I liked the green of this kind of fern(?) and the dark walls of the museum…

Lunch at the museum cafe was incredible!  The menu was diverse and it was hard to decide what to get.  I ended up have a delicious mushroom soup bread bowl with…yum…bacon…

The whole gang.  The weather was so nice, we ate outside under a tent…

The view of the sculpture garden from our table…

The boys in front of one of the sculptures…

The moms…Jodi, Nancy, and me…

Pretty girls.  On the left, ‘P’ is Jodi’s daughter.  She is one terrific sitter in case anyone is looking!

The music concourse, across the street from the museum.  The trees are called London plane trees…
This area is beautiful.  It reminds me of the parks in Paris.  I look forward to seeing this at different times through the year…

Recently, all of the trees were pruned.  The branches were set along the perimeter and people took them and made little forts.  We are currently reading "The House at Pooh Corner" and the boys exclaimed that these look like Eyeore’s house!

A view from the garden toward the museum…

Palms all throughout…

A statue of Francis Scott Key. 
Did you know that ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ actually has four stanzas?  Me neither.
Here you go.  You can thank me later…

Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

This is a view of the music concourse from the FSK statue…

One of the many tunnels throughout the park…

Blooms are starting.  Looking forward to Spring!

We planned on going to the Ferry Building , but our GPS failed us and we ended up heading over the bridge.  We detoured onto Treasure Island and drove around.  These views are from Treasure Island…

Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz…

We decided to drive around the island and aside from the nice views, there really is nothing for a visitor there.  People live there, but all I saw were two tiny markets.  I can’t imagine people shopping there for groceries.  It seems like an inconvenient place to live.  Maybe that’s why most housing is low income, at least that what it looks like.   Here are some other facts I learned…

Arial view of Treasure Island…

•  It was created in 1936 & 1937, from fill dredged from the bay, for the Golden Gate International Exposition
• The island is named after the novel Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson, who lived in San Francisco from 1879 to 1880.

• During World War II, Treasure Island became part of the Treasure Island Naval Base, and served largely as an electronics and radio communications training school, and as the major Navy departure point for sailors in the Pacific. 

• In 1996, Treasure Island and the Presidio Army Base were decommissioned and opened to public control, under stipulations. Treasure Island is now part of District 6 of the City and County of San Francisco, though it is still owned by the Navy.

• In 1988, Treasure Island stood in for the Berlin airport in Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

• The San Francisco Gaelic Athletic Association has recently leased land on the island to create athletic fields which will be used mainly for Gaelic football and hurling. The 3 fields will be home to future North American Championships as well as visits from Irish All-Star teams.

• After the Naval Station closed in 1997, Treasure Island was opened to residential and other uses, but according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Toxic Substances Control, the groundwater and air are contaminated with asbestos, plutonium, radium and other substances which are known to cause cancer and other illnesses.  Niiiice…

A good day was had by all!