Museum for lunch

So today was orientation -- which really isn't worth talking about unless you're planning on working at Harvard and need information on their benefits packages. Anyway, it was only a half day, which gave me a nice chance to actually get out for lunch.

So I went across the street to the Harvard Museum of Natural History, something I've been wanting to do since I interviewed.

I think I'm going to be spending a lot of time there, probably with a sketchbook. The place is packed end to end with stuffed specimens, including the most gigantic bull giraffe I've ever seen. There are bison, and elephants, and tasmanian tigers, and monkeys, and birds, and a big old moose (but no elk). There was a lion cub that reminded me a lot of Punkin. And if you're not paying attention and you suddenly look up, you're startled by full-sized whale skeletons.

Then there are fossils of prehistoric animals, including cynodonts, sloths, dinosaurs, fish, and several horse variants.

There's a whole hall full of minerals of every sort, including meteorites and a giant amethyst.

But the most famous display is the Glass Flowers. These were commissioned by the University between 1887 and 1936 and are about the weirdest things I've ever seen. You go into this room full of glass cases that appear to be full of impressively preserved flowers.

They're not.

They're glass.

There's nothing special about the technique or anything like that, they're made just like any other glass piece, but there's amazing artistry, the truly look real. Along with all the plant replicas, there are a number of magnified plant parts -- petals, fruit, and other structures. Some of the plants even show evidences of damage (meaning damage to the plants, not the glass, though there's some of that, too, there has been some damage over time and there was restoration work done. Only to be expected with glassworks that old). The one pictured above is the fig.

Anyway, they're pretty wild. If anyone comes out this way I'll take you to see them.

Next up, the Peabody Anthropological Museum.