Chapter 130: ...Got a Condo Made of Stone-a

The last time King Tut was in Seattle was 1978. That was the year we were married and there was no money to throw away on a dead king when I was trying to pay off a wedding. I really wanted to see the exhibit so I swore next time Tut was in town I would go see him. 

Although the money is not flowing freely around here, we were able to go. Carissa and I had planned to do it and, to our surprise, Bob decided to join us on our royal tour. On Saturday morning after a refresher of Steve Martin's King Tut song we King Tut danced our way into the car and headed for Seattle.

It didn't seem like much of a good weather day so I was surprised when I looked through the arches of the Seattle Science Center to see a bright blue sky with white fluffy clouds to accent the white of the Space Needle and Science Center arches.

Once inside, we took advantage of the photo opportunity presented to us, no matter how corny it was. 

 This is a life-sized stone statue of one of the Egyptian queens. I spent most of the exhibit wondering why all the statues had giant feet like mine. Were they really that large? Was it (multiple) artists interpretation? Did they just have excess sculpting materials that they needed to use up?

Sanitation was important to the "modern" Egyptian. Below is a royal toilet seat that sat on a box that, most likely, some lowly slave had to go dump into the river.

Kitty sarcophagus. No, despite all the pictures in my blog, Nitro is not going to have his own kitty sarcophagus

Another giant stone carving. The detail is amazing considering they did not have power tools, or modern conveniences. Just a bunch of  slave handymen.

This is a piece of carved stone wall. Kinda like our modern video walls, only they don't move...and are made from stone.

Here we go with the giant feet again, although they don't really show up in the photo too well. It's kind of creepy that this king is posing with his two naked children depicted at his feet.

Finally, what we had all been waiting for...a gold death mask. Not King Tut's, but really cool all the same. 

A side view of the same cool death mask.

I guess to be successful in  the afterlife, you must have each of your major organs in it's own canopic coffinette (jar), keeping only your heart intact. This one is hand carved from some sort of white stone and is a couple of feet tall.

 This cute little guy is also a canopic coffinette and is about 18" tall. It's gold, really detailed, and beautiful despite it's purpose.

These are the golden sandals that King Tut walked into the afterlife in. In keeping with the theme, they were really large too. 

Imagine a solid gold necklace that is so heavy that it needs a counter-balance in the back. A little voice in the back of my mind was saying "How much moving around is he going to do in that sarcophagus that his necklace is going to get crooked or feel too heavy?"

 After the exhibit, we were all herded through the gift shop and given the opportunity to leave our money there. As usual, Carissa grabbed a photo op.

 Mom Tut and Roo Tut.

Another picture of Carissa abusing the merchandise in the Tut store.

Years ago Kyanne, when she went to England,  brought me a pin from a London museum. I proudly wore it through the King Tut exhibit. I bet I was the envy of all that saw it since they were not available in the money-magnet store.

I turned my GPS on to see what our day at Seattle Center looked like. Here is our path. Top left was a trip to the fountain to see what was happening, the bottom left is the Science Center, bottom right was our side trip to McDonald's so I could get iced tea, and the red dot was the parking garage next to the new Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation building. 

Sunday morning Eileen, Ben, and their baby Eleanor stopped up to the house to visit. Eleanor got to meet Bear for the first time. They each enjoyed the visit, although I don't think this was Bear's favorite moment.  

He coulda won a Grammy,
Buried in his Jammies,
Born in Arizona, moved to Babylonia,
He was born in Arizona, got a condo made of stone-a,
King Tut!  

-Steve Martin song "King Tut" 

(Click link to see Steve Martin sing this song)