Museum Review

My dad (being a grumpy old fart lol) is unamused with my going around the country seeing bands (especially Fearless Vampire Killers) but I am really enjoying seeing a bit of the country I wouldn't do otherwise. Almost all of my trips involve a spot of sightseeing, most usually museums and castles.

This is a personal bias; I have always liked museums and castles but the "I cinderella at a castle" in my Twitter bio (@HeggieFVK) is true - since September 2011 I have been a cleaner at Taunton Castle, home of the Museum of Somerset. This has rather increased my interest in museums so I thought I'd do an incredibly brief review of the museums I can remember visiting over the past few years only. I've been to many more and I'm sure I've forgotten some.

Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, formally opening the Museum of Somerset (2012)

ENGLAND
MUSEUM OF SOMERSET

• Most recent visit: 2015
• Keep an eye out for: The Mary Bridge Sword, it's got a nice little backstory ;)
• Review: Obviously I'm a bit biased but I definitely think it's worth a visit if you're in the area. We have a nice Roman mosaic of the Dido and Aeneas too!

BRISTOL MUSEUM and ART GALLERY

• Most recent visit: 2014
• Keep an eye out for: That huge ichthyosaur!
• Review: A really nice museum but watch out for the loos (the ladies at least, can't speak for the gents) as they're kind of terrifying!

ROMAN BATHS, BATH

• Most recent visit: 2013
• Keep an eye out for: -
• Review: Definitely a must for anyone with an interest in Romans

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, LONDON

• Most recent visit: 2015
• Keep an eye out for: The building itself - bloody hell it's GORGEOUS! Possibly a little overlooked in comparison with the dinosaurs. Watch out for the coelacanth too.
• Review: A world class museum for everyone. If you haven't been...why the hell not???

SCIENCE MUSEUM, LONDON

• Most recent visit: 2013
• Keep an eye out for: The history of medicine displays
• Review: Probably more suited to science buffs and kids of a suitable age for all the interactive displays; I was a little underwhelmed.

VICTORIA and ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON

• Most recent visit: 2013
• Keep an eye out for: The Cast Court
• Review: Absolute cracker of a museum; highly recommended.

OXFORD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

• Most recent visit: 2015
• Keep an eye out for: All of it
• Review: Like a smaller and less formal version of the NHM, London - absolutely fantastic.

PITT RIVERS MUSEUM, OXFORD

• Most recent visit: 2015
• Keep an eye out for: I found the history of tattooing display very interesting.
• Review: A proper old-fashioned museum of anthropology - packed to the gills! Love it. Very highly recommended - and it's linked to the Oxford Museum of Natural History for a double win!

ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM, OXFORD

• Most recent visit: 2015
• Keep an eye out for: The nice bum, pictured below :)
• Review: A very good museum, there's a reason why it's so famous.

THE GREAT HALL, WINCHESTER

• Most recent visit: 2015
• Keep an eye out for: See pic below
• Review: Not especially enthralling. They had an art exhibition when I visited that I enjoyed.

BIRMINGHAM MUSEUM and ART GALLERY

• Most recent visit: 2014
• Keep an eye out for: Pugin Rood Screen
• Review: One of the best museums I've visited but particularly as an Open University student - so many objects tied in with my studies.

NOTTINGHAM CASTLE MUSEUM

• Most recent visit: 2015
• Keep an eye out for: Big glass pumpkin (below)
• Review: Worth dropping by, but to be honest the castle grounds were better

WALES

SWANSEA MUSEUM

• Most recent visit: 2015
• Keep an eye out for: The Wassailing Bowl below
• Review: Quite a nice museum, smaller than I had anticipated though

DYLAN THOMAS CENTRE, SWANSEA

• Most recent visit: 2015
• Keep an eye out for: The Llareggub signpost :)
• Review: Probably better if you're a fan of Thomas' work or poets in general. That said, I came away needing to read some of his work

NATIONAL MUSEUM CARDIFF

• Most recent visit: 2015
• Keep an eye out for: ---
• Review: Kind of underwhelmed. Would've been better if it had been like it was in The Big Bang episode of Doctor Who with Daleks and a big ol' Pandorica.

SCOTLAND

KELVINGROVE ART GALLERY & MUSEUM, GLASGOW

• Most recent visit: 2014
• Keep an eye out for: Whatever art takes your fancy - there's an impressive range
• Review: A very enjoyable place to visit, wish I could've spent more time there

NORTHERN IRELAND

TITANIC BELFAST

• Most recent visit: 2014
• Keep an eye out for: I actually rather liked the 'ride' which gave you a bit of an insight into the building of the ship
• Review: Having a long-standing interest in the Titanic story I am rather biased. I very much enjoyed this exhibition although it was a little 'modern' for my tastes.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF IRELAND - ARCHAEOLOGY, DUBLIN

• Most recent visit: 2014
• Keep an eye out for: Bog bodies
• Review: Definitely worth a visit

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF IRELAND - NATURAL HISTORY, DUBLIN

• Most recent visit: 2014
• Keep an eye out for: Irish Elk (below) - magnificent beasties!
• Review: This isn't as good as the NHM, London or Oxford NHM but it's an interesting insight into how museums were presented in the past which I find interesting in itself.

GUINNESS STOREHOUSE, DUBLIN

• Most recent visit: 2014
• Keep an eye out for: Just keep in mind how well designed this museum is, embracing the purpose of the attraction (like the NHM, London) rather than just being a generic building.
• Review: For fans of Guinness and drinkers in general but touches on social history along the way

WET FLOOR

To me, this is a simple no-brainer of a very short blog but it has come to my attention that some people are amazingly rare in the common sense department and there is actually a need for this so, here goes:

WHAT TO DO WHEN A FLOOR IS WET / YOU SEE A WET FLOOR SIGN

1) *THINK* Do I need to walk this way?
If not - don't.
If yes, move on to point 2)

2) *THINK* Do I have everything I need?
Seriously, this drives me nuts. Someone walks across my nice clean floor, remembers something, walks back, then across again AND SOMETIMES REPEATS!

3) *LOOK* 
There really is no point walking across the wettest bit of the floor, through any swept up dirt or into the sodding mop bucket!

4) WALK CAREFULLY You have seen the floor is wet / the wet floor sign, whatever happens next is your responsibility, okay?!
FFS, what is wrong with people??? I have seen people RUN, HOP, SKIP AND JUMP - this does NOT reduce your leaving footprints on the floor and gives the cleaner palpitations. DON'T!!!

Then there are my personal rules:

5) DON'T ASK the cleaner if it's okay to walk on the floor. The cleaner is not in much of a position to say "The hell no, you keep off my floor! You wanna get to the other side you gotta FLY!" however much they may want to. Realistically all they can do is warn you to be careful in the hope that you don't sue if you slip.

6) DON'T APOLOGISE for walking. It gets really wearing after a while. The snarkier cleaner may not be able to bite back a "So you bloody well should be". Also, floors are to be walked on and if you didn't walk on the floor we would be out of our jobs cleaning them!

Instead, try saying 'hello' or something. Cleaners get ignored a lot, which is fine but acknowledging us is kinda nice too.

DO however apologise if you're making a mess on my nice clean floor. Not that this is a major thing. It happens. I remember one day, cleaning my castle before it opened to the public, and I'd just got the cafe area buffed up a treat...when a bunch of guys wheeled a scaffolding rig in. They apologised. I rolled my eyes, said "no problem" and walked away. There really is nothing else you can do. A cleaner who loses the plot is in the wrong job!

I hope this helps.