May 21, 2022- Two Museums

 

I had two COVID tests kits with me and needed to have a negative result within a day of my departure in order to get back into the US.  Today’s was a test run. It was a good thing- I’d fat-fingered my last name in the app  and had to jump through some hoops to fix it, and I ended up sitting in the floor with my phone propped up and the test kit on the floor so the “proctor” could see everything.  Negative- huge sigh of relief.

I visited two museums, starting with the Egyptian Collection, which I didn’t even know existed until a few days ago.  It was magnificent- well- organized, well-documented and good descriptions in German and English.  It also brought in the influences of the Nubians and the Assyrians and continued through a few hundred years into the Christian era. 

Helpful directions ("just a few steps to your left").

Detail from the statue shown above- the archaeologist had to deface it with his name and other information!

An exhibit of artifacts arranged in chronological order so you could see how life changed.

German translation of a very long prayer to the gods asking for protection against (among other things) migraine, toothache, nasal congestion, weak eyesight and inability to speak.

A beautifully-detailed Assyrian wall sculpture.  Note that the wedge-shaped figures flowing across the body are cuneiform writing, the earliest known form.

After lunch I went to the Mineral Museum, also in the Museum Quarter.  It was in a section of the University and included a collection of every type of crystals as well as precious metals and meteorites.  It even had a tiny rock from Mars.

The larger waves on the right side of the seismograph were from me jumping up and down.  Well, I was only following directions!

The highlighted elements on this periodic table show how many of them are used in your smartphone.  I was struck by how much I used my phone in this trip- everything from looking up German words and getting Uber or Bolt drivers to uploading vaccine and passport information.

A rare example of a "shatter cone", which forms only in the bedrock under a meteorite strike or a nuclear blast.  They are evidence that the rock has been subject to extreme pressures.

Display of fluorescent minerals, which look quite ordinary in daylight.