Tag Archives: Museum

Jun10

The Punk Museum of Reykjavik

Posted on June 10, 2024 by perfectusvarrus

Sunday, 19-May-2024

Okay so one more museum for today, I swear.

Wait… yeah. Okay, this is definitely the last museum from Sunday the 19th. Had to double-check that.

From the settlement museum, I was a bit overstimulated and stuffed full of new trivia knowledge… I was happy, feeling good, and enjoying my continued wanderings around Reykjavik when I noticed a sign, pointing down a staircase, under the street.

Signs, pointing down staircases, under streets, are a great place to have your kidneys removed. Alternatively, they remind me of the entrance to the Catacombs in Paris, that I didn’t ever get to see since my friends wanted to see Notre Dam, which we could have seen afterward, but no we had to see first, and it had a huge line, and I never got to see the catacombs, and no I’m not still mad about that what makes you think that?

…

I went down the stairs.

The punk museum of Reykjavik lived up to its name.

Punk isn’t about following rules, or fitting in, or even being particularly understandable. It’s about… well, it’s about punk. Pretty sure that, if you asked 10 punks what Punk is about, you’d get 12 different answers and a fist fight.

The punk museum was built in a defunct public restroom. There was a small entryway, with an exceptionally chill dude talking to friends about some upcoming shows. The “Exhibits” were the stalls, plastered with concert posters, facts, and photos… in something vaguely resembling what could be mistaken for a chronological order.

I asked if I had enough time to see everything before he closed up shop, and he looked at me sideways and said, “Man, I’m not gonna kick you out. Have fun, don’t worry about it” and then went back to his conversation.

Hell yeah. I perused, learned a bit (I think?) and simply appreciated that a museum like this could exist. I repeat – Hell. Yeah.

Jun9

The National Museum of Iceland

Posted on June 9, 2024 by perfectusvarrus

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Sunday, 19-May-2024

I am a lover of museums.

I couldn’t begin to guess how many times I went to museums in Boston while growing up. The Museum of Fine Art, the Science Museum… countless other smaller galleries and showcases… It was part of my family, and I wouldn’t trade those memories for the world.

When travelling, I keep that tradition alive.

I had two days in Reykjavik before flying out, and I planned on making the most of them. Originally I only had one, and was going to use it to see the art museum, but I got an extra day when my glacier tour cancelled on me… an opportunity to explore that I wasn’t going to pass up.

I started with the National Museum.

Throughout my adventures in Iceland, I’ve been adoring learning about the history of the country – both the history of its people and the history of the land itself. The National Museum focused almost exclusively on the former, discussing Icelandic settlement from the earliest Vikings up through the modern day. It was really interesting, though I’ll admit to one frustration that I have with many history museums… a lack of a single primary timeline. The history museum in Greenland had one, showing the various timelines, and the museum at Þingvellir had a pretty solid timeline… so my only complaint is that a similar timeline near the beginning, repeated throughout, would have been nice to give context.

Aside, though… the artifacts! They were so cool; being able to see original finds from throughout Iceland’s history… I loved it!

So sit back and enjoy, dear reader, some of the many placards and details from the Reykjavik National Museum!

Mar1

A visit from back home – The Portland Puppet museum!

Posted on March 1, 2023 by perfectusvarrus

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Sunday, 05-Feb-2023

Just a quick note for this one, but after the Evergreen Air and Space museum, my Mom and I had a bit more museum energy to burn off… so we hit a spot that she’d been wanting to see for a while – the Portland Puppet Museum!

Yep, that’s right! Turns out, Portland has the 3rd largest puppet museum in the United States!

I honestly didn’t even know about this, but in retrospect it doesn’t really surprise me that much… I mean, we’ve got Laika, we’ve got countless art houses, and we’ve got tons of film industry now… so it just makes sense that there’d also be a puppet community! I mean, “Keep Portland weird”, right?

The museum was tiny – literally smaller than my apartment, and probably the same size as my living room. But what they had on display… Dang! It was a full room, no doubt about it, and the curator / docent / owner was amazingly well versed and well spoken – We spoke for ages, with him telling stories about the shows and plays the puppets had been in, sharing amazing bits of knowledge, and even letting us use some of the puppets as a demo of how the rigging for them works!

10/10, would recommend and will visit again!