Weekend Museum Highlights

Long weekends usually mean a visit to a museum or garden-somewhere nice and festive.  A favorite place at this time of year is the Durham Museum, which is located in the historic Omaha Union Station.  It was once a busy railway station--I can only imagine the stories that must be within those walls--the people who passed through at some point in their lives--coming and going.  It's an Art Deco building and quite striking inside and out.  The exhibits are mostly regional history-related or science-oriented as it is Smithsonian affiliated.  And every year it houses a massive tree that was locally donated.  I happened to coincide my visit with the day the tree was officially lit, though I didn't hang around for the actual ceremony.  I'm sure I'll return before the holiday in December to see it with the lights on.

There are many displays of historical-Omaha, so you get a sense of what it was like to live here, and it is always fun to look at all the artifacts.  Where should we go?  I have traveled by train but never in the US.

There are actual trains on display in the lower level of the station and from different eras.  This is one of the less fancier models, but it certainly shows a lot of wear and use.

I guess you must have had to fill out an order request for your meal.  Fifteen cent coffees.  I guess that means there were no $6 mocha frappuccinos, eh?  No vegetarian, vegan or gluten-free options either.  I bet the pie a la mode was pretty good, though.

I like the idea of streetcars more than city buses.  I wish we still had them like they do in San Francisco.

I have this idea that I rode on one of these as a very small child with my grandma, but maybe that is revisionist fantasy on my part.  The idea of trains and streetcars is sort of romantic now.  This certainly seems spacious to me.

I had heard there was a quilt exhibit, but I was expecting a room full of them.  It seems that these are the entries into a competition for the 150th Anniversary of the state, which we are celebrating this year.  They all look pretty amazing and intricate.  How ever did they choose?

I don't always walk through all the train sections (and am not sure the interiors are always open to the public, but on this holiday weekend they were and had lots of visitors).  But I always take a peek at this 1920s auto.  I the information sign noted that it was a ladies' car, but I have a feeling it was not all that easy to drive. 

There are lots of models of homes and public and private spaces as they would have been through the ages.  One of my grandmas (maybe they both did) had a stove just like this one!  And I think her ice box, was literally an ice box and not what we know as a refrigerator.  (She also had a bureau where she always kept little bags of M&Ms that my sister and I would raid when we visited. 

Omaha was the host to a world fair, the Trans-Mississippi International Exposition in 1898.  I love looking at this diorama.  It must have been quite the event and a draw for midwesterners (and maybe even visitors from the coasts and internationally).

This is a little peek at some of the things I saw on my visit.  It's a real gem of a museum if you ever pass through Omaha!  And it was a pleasant place to spend a few hours over my long weekend.  Now it makes me want to pick up a good book of historical fiction!  With that in mind I pulled out my copy of Timothy Schaffert's The Swan Gondola, a novel set during the world's fair.  It would make a perfect complement to my visit, don't you think?  (Or maybe a novel set on a train . . . this is what so often happens with my reading--I will see something that sparks an idea or curiosity and it makes me want a book with a setting just so . . .). 

Comments

[iliana]

What a fun museum visit. I love trains too! And, those quilts are wonderful. Sounds like you had a blast during your visit.

[Smithereens]

It seems like such a fun outing. I would have loved to sit on these train cars and read a Agatha Christie novel (like the one in the Orient Express?)

[Joan Kyler]

I was thinking, too, that those trains look so much more spacious than today's cramped trains. Much more civilized than today! That museum looks fascinating. I like that it triggered so many memories for you. A museum with displays you can relate to is wonderful.

[Buried In Print]

Those trains and cars do make one want to pull a particular book off the shelf, settle in and have a good read. But I bet the cushions are even less comfortable than today's seats on public transportation! The museum looks lovely and I'm sure you enjoyed all the quilts!

[Danielle]

I always enjoy going to this museum and I usually go every year around the holidays. It is a beautiful space, though it has been ages since I actually went IN the train cars! Very fun.

[Danielle]

There was one especially fancy car that might have been from around that same era and I should have taken a photo of it. I was surprised by how spacious they were. Isn't there something sort of romantic about trains--or on the flip side, sort of dark and perfect for a little crime, too! ;)

[Danielle]

Yes, people were definitely not all crammed up against each other. I wonder if they were designed like that as fewer people in those days could afford that sort of travel? Or maybe by then lots of people had more of an opportunity. But they even put our current city buses to shame! I had not been through all the galleries to look at the 'living exhibits' for ages, so it was fun to experience it all again. Museums in general are such inspiring places, aren't they?

[Danielle]

I was actually expecting more quilts--didn't realize they were the entries into a competition but was expecting a whole room full of them, but still they were worth lingering over. Next time I will have to try out the seats and not just walk through. Do a little comparison. Do you know I have never been on an American train? I am not even sure if they are at all like these or vastly different now. I was tempted to go find a book set on a train, you know... but so far I have resisted.

[LindaY]

Trains. I love trains.

[Danielle]

I especially like the ones I am on that are going somewhere exciting! ;)

[LizF]

That streetcar interior does look quite spacious! They have trams in Milan but they certainly didn't seem to be so roomy when we were trying to get three adults, one toddler and a baby in a buggy as well as luggage on board at rush hour as we were trying to get to our bus to the airport! They are an interesting mode of transport though and they do have some real vintage ones which they operate during Fashion Weeks apparently.

[Danielle]

Why are buses now so squashed? They seem like it anyway. Everything is always smaller when you are in a rush and have small children! In Vienna they also have streetcars/trams and I loved them. I could happily go to Milan and check theirs out... :)