Thursday, June 14, 2012

Texas: DART and the 6th Floor Museum

Stretch. Yawn. Blearily, I peer at the clock and realize that yes...it does say 10:00 am. I have managed to sleep that long. Stretch, yawn again. My partner in travel is also awake and seems much more prepared to go from her room down the hall. Yes, those are sounds of productivity. Sugar. Maybe  I should get out of bed. Those were the thoughts that drifted through my mind.

On finally getting moving and out the door, we wandered over to the Farmer's Branch Museum to see the sights we had missed. The school house was lovely in the white walls and old pictures. In the church, the simplicity of the display was charming. And really, who can resist pulling the church bell and waking up the neighbours! The bell chimed out and then it was off to see the beautiful victorian house. The furnishings are gorgeous. I should also mention that you need an appointment to view the site, so make sure that they are open. They don't want to miss you.
The 6th floor museum

Worlds friendliest security guard


The Grassy Knoll



Old and new blends

Skies over Farmers Branch

Wicked storm brews over Dallas as seen from backseat.

Sunset over Texas

What a burger...Burnet

School House Farmer's Branch


Out house...deluxe

Church

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Farmer's Branch: the Queen Anne Victorian Cottage


DART

Anyway, from there it was a five second hop to the DART, the train that for $1.75 will whisk you to downtown. For much of the trip, the train provides some gorgeous views of the downtown core. At the West End Station, we got off and walked the block to the 6th Floor Museum. Admission is paid and you are handed your headset and up the elevator to the 6th floor. You are not permitted to take pictures and with security watching you closely, you can't even sneak one in. (I didn't try). The head sets are informative and interesting to listen to. However, make sure you know how to start and stop it as the exhibitions can get quite congested around the video screens. Inevitably, I started to skip over the videos as the crowds were thick. The vantage point of Oswald's rifle shot is calmingly disturbing. I would have loved a photograph of that view from the window. Photographs were not allowed so I thought, well, I will take it from the 7th floor. I proceeded through the rest of the exhibition and was left wondering about a man and a family that have experienced so much tragedy and have profoundly impacted the American people. Not to mention, their political impact world wide.

Off the 7th floor staircase, I was met by the security guard who was exuberantly friendly. He wanted to know all about Toronto. Having spent three days there several years ago myself, I knew just enough to inform him that he should go himself and explore. But, he explained all about the art exhibition and then to my dismay, he said the windows were blocked due a special event. I was disappointed. Really? The key image from my point of view and I can't take it? Down to the gift shop I went to try and purchase it. No luck there either. While you can buy all sorts of postcards, the exact thing I was looking for was not available. So, I made the best of it and wandered the grassy knoll and snapped a couple of shots.

My favorite image of the day was the log cabin on founders square. I loved the contrast of the log cabin with the big high rise. It was impressive. From there, it was back to the house and we drove under thunderous skies to Fredericksburg. I experienced my first Whataburger (and possibly my last as we don't have those). All in all, Texas is fun with so much to see.

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