Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Severed Heads and Nonsense

To round of our weekend d'extravaganza, we toured the Bronte House in the morning and went to a Human Body exhibition later that afternoon. Adding in Peggy's field hockey match before all of that, and we had another busy day.

The Bronte House is right down the road from us, but a million miles out of our price range. It is a historical landmark, dating back to the first generations of settlers hundreds of years ago. It is opened for public view a few weekends out of the year, the rest of the time resided in by a member of the Murdoch media magnate clan. We were not sure if they were hiding in some of houses other rooms, or did they just vacate for the weekend altogether.

The sitting room was delightful, encouraging quite a bit of sitting. I tried to sit, as designated by the name of the room, but the velvet barrier kept me from doing so. There were victorian furnishings, porcelin lamps, floral print wallpaper and impressionist paintings. It was every preservationist's dream.

The real treat to this grand affair were the gardens. Different trails criss crossed the hillside, allowing visitors to meander among the tropical plants, checking out the fountains and massive spider webs. They even had their own compost heap! Man, rich people have all the cool sh*t.

We then darted off to the Olympic Park to meet our friends Rich and Ellen, and to go see dozens of preserved human bodies (and body parts) on display in one of the exhibition halls. In our pre-exhibit gathering, it was clear that we weren't sure what to expect. Abnormalities, demonstrative displays (how long our intestines really were) and interactive booths were all hypothesized. Unfortunatly, none of those came to pass. For $20, we got to see plasticized humans in poses like skiing (downhill, not cross country), tennis and archery. Oh, there was also a cadaver playing chess, but he was taking forever to move!

Some of the bodies looked a little worse for the wear, having bits and pieces snipped off, all in the name of science. There was the obligitory healthy lung versus a smoker lung. We got to see what it would look like if one was dissected into two inch slices down the length of your body. There was certainly a haberdashery of various parts and components to be gawked at, all which were meant to be educational.

I recall seeing something similar in London a few years ago, with presentation being much better. The Aussie version felt a little like a highschool science fair. There was a TV on a cart, laminated note cards, folding tables and the like. On the whole, it didn't feel veryscientific - more just cheesy.

posted by ncawthon at 1:32 PM