Recently my friend An and I went to the De Young Museum to see the Tutankhamun exhibit.
Now let me preface this by saying that because the founders of our Company are major art collectors; we employees get free entrance into most of the art museums in San Francisco. There is one caveat to this perk. Traveling or special exhibitions are not free and we do have to pay to get in.
When An asked if I wanted to see the King Tut exhibit I said yes. This was because I kind of wanted to see it and my late grandmother was big into Egypt and I felt like she would have been happy to know that I went.
In my mind I knew that we were probably going to have to pay to get in. An on the other hand thought we would get in for free.
Imagine her surprise when we arrived and were given our "General Admission" ticket and told that we could enjoy anything in the permanent collection.
An looked at me and said, "Oh, I didn't realize we would have to pay, do you just want to see the regular museum?"
I figured we had seen the rest of the museum before, we were here, lets just pay and see what we came for.
I was a little surprised to find out it cost $32.50 to see the King Tut exhibit! The name of the exhibit and what is written on the ticket stub says "Tutankhamun & Golden Age Of Pharaohs."
Alright! We are going to see some mummies! Can't wait.
Except we did wait.
Even though we now had tickets we had to wait in a line for about an hour to get in. The line stretched over two levels of the museum and rivaled the cue to a ride at Disneyland.
Actually, the museum did a good job with the set up because it reminded me of waiting in line for the Indiana Jones ride.
We eventually got to enter the "tomb" and begin our journey through the "Age of Pharaohs."
Well can you believe that King Tut is not actually in this exhibit. We saw jewels and pottery and furniture and a sarcophagus of some distant relative of King Tut, but no Tut himself.
For $32.50 I expected King Tut!
And because they didn't allow photography the best picture I got was with my cell phone of a bust of Tut.
All kidding aside I did enjoy the exhibit and am glad I went.
But if you decide to go, just be forewarned that King Tut won't actually be there!
The Song Of The Day - Walk Like An Egyptian by The Bangles
For $32.50 I would have demanded a pyramid.
ReplyDeleteDad
Walk like an Egyptian by the Bangles is a Moore family favorite. Not sure how but at every family wedding and reunion we make sure that is played and it gets everyone out of their chairs. I had heard that Tut was not present when this exhibit hit other locals and there were complaints galore. In any event glad you enjoyed it!!
ReplyDeleteJoanne
P.S. How about Steve Martin's King Tut? Wonder if it is on Youtube?
ReplyDeleteJoanne
Mr. Casey's comment made me LOL! For $32.50, seeing king tut isn't too much to ask for. I enjoyed it but was left feeling a little disappointed.
ReplyDeleteyes, you would think, that for $32.50, the king could have been there.
ReplyDeletebut equally upsetting, joanne, isn't the chicken dance bad enough? now i have to have visuals of the family doing, walk like an egyptian. scary!
love aunt carol