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May 24, 2003
lots of nature
spent the evening at Tapeo...mmm. Lots of sangria. Lots of tapas. Mmm. The goat cheese, honey and figs were the best part.
But back to earlier today at the Harvard Museum of Natural History...
They had a LOT of dinosaur bones but for some reason I was more amazed by these whale pictures...I mean, check them out! Joe is!
This was a funny pygmy whale, about four feet long:
They had cases and cases of mothball smelling stuffed animals from all the continents. It was amazing to see them all...that hummingbird case in the previous post was just a small sample.
Keep going to see more pictures...
They also had many jars of formaldahyde preserved creatures...fish, tapeworms, frogs, and more. Honestly, it was pretty damn cool. I didn't even really notice the million kids running around because I was so mesmerized.
I took lots of pictures. The worst part is that in looking back, I wish I had paid a bit more attention to WHAT I was taking pictures of.
For example, here is this great mirror picture I took but I am not entirely sure what the animal it is that I took the picture of...I just plumb forgot!
And this mirror picture...
But the best? The glass flowers. As the site says, "This unique collection of over 3,000 models was created by the glass artisans, Leopold Blaschka and his son, Rudolph. The commission began in 1886, continued for five decades, and represents more than 830 plant species."
I had heard about them for years but hadn't seen them. I walked in and after ten minutes I think Joe was ready to leave me there...I think I was driving him crazy saying, "These can't be glass! I can't believe they are glass!" But they were. I tried to take some pictures but they really don't do them justice.
This place was a botanist's dream as far as being able to look at the plants, their cross-sections, reproductive systems, etc. But for the rest of us...it was an exercise in pure admiration for the handiwork of the Blaschkas.
Here are some...ALL glass and trust me, you couldn't tell in person, so don't feel bad if you can't tell in the pictures.
Hurry...before now and the end of May, if you live in New England and have a Fleet card, you can go to this and other area museums for free!
Posted by crystallyn at May 24, 2003 10:58 PM
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Comments
Did they have any neat bugs on display?
Posted by: Sharyl M. at May 25, 2003 11:32 AM
They had a lot of bugs, but more animals and birds. There was a case of ants that someone in the latter part of the 19th century had collected...some of them were so small you could barely see them.
Old collections of bugs are the best because someone painstakingly writes in miniscule print on tiny tiny scraps of paper which they put underneath the pinned bugs...do you know what I mean?
Posted by: crystal at May 25, 2003 11:35 AM
Mmm....Tapeo. Funny, I've been bugging Sean lately to go to Tapeo or Dali. It'd be worth it just for the sangria!
Posted by: Redpanda at May 26, 2003 08:24 AM
We had lots of sangria!! Joe and I had our first date at Dali, actually and it was wonderful then. But when we went back about 8 or 9 months later, we had the worst service ever. I think that I like Tapeo a bit better because there is more seating and a bit more room to wait at the bar. They have another store in Waltham but the name is escaping me...it's equally good but not as cozy.
What I thought was sort of funny is that they serve so much sangria at Tapeo that they keep it on tap!!
Posted by: crystallyn at May 26, 2003 09:29 AM
Hey girl - Matt and I are getting married !!! I need to get your address :) Write me and I'll tell ya more - ps - you changed your site ???
Posted by: Steph at May 29, 2003 11:13 PM