Posts in the category "Exhibits":

London’s Heathrow Airport & the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) have put together some lovely traditional English gardens to welcome passengers and will be handing out free seed packets to travelers so they can start their own gardens.

The terminal approach areas outside Terminals 3, 4 and 5 have been transformed into a living art installation by Tony Smith, winner of three Royal Horticultural Society best in show awards and gold at RHS Chelsea, RHS Hampton Court, RHS Tatton Park and Gardeners’ World Live Flower Shows.

The special gardens will be blooming through May 25 and are in honor of England’s National Gardening Week (April 15 – 21) and the Chelsea Flower Show (May 21 – 25).

Inside the airport, over 170 volunteers wearing Wellington boots and gardening aprons will be welcoming arriving passengers, dispensing gardening advice and handing out 20,000 packets of seeds.

Airport restaurants will also have special flower-themed menu items, such as native lobster with elderflower foam, pea shoots and violets from Gordon Ramsay’s Plane Food and spring salads with edible flowers from “rhubarb”.

Worried about leaving your plants alone when you travel? Experts at the Royal Horticultural Society say most houseplants will tolerate being alone and untended to for a few days, but if you’ll be away for more than a week:

*Move houseplants and outdoor containers to a sheltered, shady site outdoors to stop them drying out as quickly.

*Re-pot pot-bound plants. If they’re too crammed in, they will dry out quickly. Choose containers with integral reservoirs and incorporate water absorbent gel into the compost.

*Give plants a good soak before leaving them, but don’t leave them standing in water as this can lead to them suffering from over watering.

*Ask neighbors or friends if they can check whether the pots need watering while you’re away. If you can, give them a quick tour before leaving to explain what is likely to need attention and what isn’t.

*Consider installing an automatic watering system (available at garden centers and DIY shops) for patio pots and greenhouses.

Categories: Events, Exhibits
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It’s great to be able to fly around the world, but I’m always pleased to discover or be introduced to a great ‘new’ spot not far from my own town.

That’s what happened this past weekend, when I was urged to head out to Cama Beach State Park, on the southwest shore of Camano Island in Washington State.

The Washington State Parks system is celebrating its centennial year and this 433-acre park – once a privately-owned 1930s-era fishing resort with cedar cabins and bungalows right on the waterfront – is a hidden treasure.

There’s a mile long beach and both gray whales and pods of Orcas are regular visitors. Even better – inside one of the administration buildings is a small museum with a wide variety of taxidermy animals and beach-vacation memorabilia, including the Tartan suntan oil above.

Categories: Exhibits, family travel
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Whether you’re a veteran of multiple trans-Atlantic crossings or have yet to set sail on your first weekend party cruise to the Bahamas, there’s plenty to learn about the history of cruise ships and the culture of cruising. Don’t worry if you’re prone to sea-sickness; only one of these cool cruise-themed museum exhibits is not on dry land.

Photo courtesy Miami Children’s Museum

Miami Children’s Museum Cruise Ship Exhibit

“Nobody expects to see a giant cruise ship on the second floor of a museum,” says Woody Graber of Miami Children’s Museum. But once they get over the surprise, kids are welcome to board the two-story, interactive Carnival Cruise Ship exhibit and try their hands at doing everything from reading maps and charting a course for a giant ship to doing the limbo and getting dressed up in sequined outfits to sing and dance in an onboard show.

Photo courtesy: Titanic Museum Attraction

Titanic fever continues

We’re near the end of a year-long centennial tribute to the April 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic, yet the fascination with the doomed ship and its passengers is unabated. An Australian billionaire recently announced plans to build Titanic II, a full-scale recreation of the original cruise ship. And attendance remains strong at the Branson, MO and Pigeon Forge, TN branches of the Titanic Museum Attraction.Co-owner Mary Kellogg says that’s due in part to the addition of new Titanic artifacts, a gallery dedicated to the children who were on the ship and themed events such as a Titanic book fair and monthly Titanic Princess Tea Parties.

Photo courtesy Mariner’s Museum, Newport News, VA

Abandon Ship exhibition

Opened in May 2012 and still bobbing along, Abandon Ship: Stories of Survival at the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, VA details the aftermath of a variety of marine catastrophes. A canvas-covered cork life vest from the Titanic is on display, along with the modern-day life vest worn by one of two Virginia Beach residents who survived the grounding of the Costa Concordia cruise ship off the coast of Italy in January 2012.  For the exhibit, the local couple shared their chilling evacuation stories and photos snapped during the ship’s evacuation.

Photo courtesy Alaska State Museums and Historical Library Collections

Alaska shipboard cruise exhibit

Throughout the summer, a photo and text-rich exhibit about the history of cruising in Alaska is installed onboard each of the Princess Cruise line vessels that visits the Land of the Midnight Sun. Created by the Alaska State Museum, Then & Now: 100 Years of Cruising Alaska’s Waters gives modern-day visitors an idea of what early steamship “excursionists” experienced and what they might have seen when they sailed these same waters. “It offers nice contrasts and, in some cases, similarities,” said Robert Banghart, chief curator of the Alaska State Museums.

Photo courtesy Rotterdam Maritime Museum

Rotterdam celebrates castles on the sea

A major new interactive exhibition titled Castle on the Sea – a holiday on a cruise ship opens at the Rotterdam Maritime Museum on April 6^th. Visitors will be invited to relax in deck chairs by the “pool,” take a twirl around a ship’s dance floor and sing along with the karaoke version of The Love Boat before taking a seat at the captain’s table for an imaginary multi-course dinner. For historical context, the exhibition includes photographs and artifacts found in the museum’s collection, including intricately detailed models of early cruise ships and passages taken from travel diaries of early cruise passengers.

My story, 5 Cool Cruise Ship Exhibits ,first appeared on AOL TRAVEL.

Categories: Exhibits, Museums
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Thinking of getting away?

This 1933 Essex Terraplane (T8) was owned for short time in 1934 by the notorious criminal John Dillinger (Public Enemy Number One) and used as a getaway car until Dillinger and his brother, Hubert, crashed the car in a farm field.

Between September 1933 and July 1934, Dillinger and his gang went on a Midwest crime spree that included bank robberies, murders and jail breaks that turned the charismatic Dillinger into a folk hero.

Much of the ‘action’ took place in and around Indiana, so it’s somewhat appropriate that for the next few years the flashy car will be on display at the Indianapolis International Airport.

Look for it in the ticketing hall of the airport.

Categories: Exhibits
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Watson Honanie (Hopi), Early Morning Katsina Bolo Tie, silver, 14-karat gold, 2009, Norman L. Sandfield Collection

The bolo tie is the official state tie of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas (didn’t know states had official ties, did ya?) and from now through June there’s an exhibition of more than 250 vintage and contemporary bolo ties at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

Bolo ties became popular in the 1940s and were a mainstay of cowboy culture. Today, the ties are not only stylish and hip, but works of art that are very collectible as well. The bolo ties on display at PHX are from the collections of both the Heard Museum and Norman L. Sandfield and are focused primarily on Zuni, Hopi and Navajo artists and silversmiths.

Look for the exhibition -  Bolo Ties – Vintage and Contemporary Artistry -  at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in the Terminal 4, Level 3 Gallery through June.

Categories: Art, Exhibits, Fashion
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