Day 6, Part I: The Joslyn Art Museum

Be prepared for a boatload of pictures. But before that, here's what I wore for my day trip to Omaha:

I know this post is a day late (was that even supposed to be surprising...) but I fell asleep the moment my head felt pillow. I know I never get up once that happens, but I still do it anyway... However, my adventures for the day cannot be easily crammed into one post like clothes in a luggage, so I'll be separating it into three parts.

So I woke up an hour earlier to freshen up and pack all my necessities for the trip, including Aquamarine by Carol Anshaw. I was going to be out the entire day and so I had to make up for work that I'll be neglecting for at least twelve hours. When I reach the designated location, I was surprised at two things:

1. There happened to be 82 participants.

2. Almost 80% of them were Chinese.

I feel like I'm dissing my own ethnicity but I was disappointed. I had expected more color. There were so many Chinese members for the trip, that none felt it wrong for the guide to occasionally speak in Chinese. Because... the guide was Chinese as well. I've never felt more at home in Lincoln, in an... odd way.

So we departed at 9am, two busloads of immigrants headed for our first destination: The Joslyn Art Museum. On the way, I was already sucked into Anshaw's narrative, the first of three lives her protagonist would endure. And as I read about Wayne, this character who falls in love with Jesse and who's also a UPS guy, a UPS truck passed right by my window. Huh.

Anyway, we arrived at the Joslyn and I am impressed with its architecture:

Really, this picture doesn't do the museum justice. Knowing that it opened in 1931, its exterior looks futuristically modern, way ahead of its time. Yes, the pillars do remind visitors of the antiquity, but its overall look is highly modernistic. Maybe this next one looks better:

Its interior is deceivingly small though, yet I didn't have time to stop and stare and every single portrait hanging within its stone walls, so the blame goes to the architect.

Below are some of the more impressive portraits/paintings I snapped:

Still Life, 1630

by Jacob van Es

Marie Antoinette, before 1868

by Albert Ernest Carrier-Belleuse

The King of Rome, 1900

by Jean Georges Vibert

The Grasshopper and the Ant (Le Cigale et la Formi), 1875

by Jean Georges Vibert

Russian Beauty with Cat, 1865

by Konstantin Egorovich Makovsky

The Grand Canyon of the Colorado, 1913

by Thomas Moran

I like this last one in particular because I can relate to this scene very much. Last winter break, I visited Canyonlands with my uncle's family and I pictured myself walking through those boulders and snow covered tracks once more.

After spending an hour or so at the art museum, it was time for us to leave for the Henry Doorly Zoo. Finally, after a year in Lincoln, do I get to visit this famous zoo...

Oh, and by the way, aside from the very first picture, every other photo in this post and the subsequent two were captured using my camera phone. Pretty clear, huh? I'm astonished myself.