We finished up our Winter Break with a really fun day celebrating Egyptian History & Astronomy by going to the Rosecrutian Egyptian Museum & Planetarium in San Jose.
The museum itself is really pretty. It reminded me of the temple of Amon at Karnak (somewhere I've never been but always wanted to go.) Auntie Marc was able to go with us too which was fun.
We ended up getting a family membership (it was only $5 more than it would have cost us to buy each ticket individually) for $60 so we can go back as many times as we want this year. When you buy a family membership, you also get to be part of the Jr. Archaeology program, so my kids get to come back anytime they want & participate in the 8 archaeology courses they offer. Once they complete 5 of the 8 classes & fill out their museum passports, they get to go to a graduation ceremony at a sleepover IN THE MUSEUM. How cool is that?
First we headed over to the Planetarium to watch the movie about Stars. Bladen especially loved it. He's always been fascinated with stars.
After the movie, we went back into the museum for the tomb tour. This museum actually dug out the ground under the museum & made it look like a real tomb in Egypt. They have a sarcophogus down there as well as some amazing wall hieroglyphs. The kids were a little scared of it at first, but it turned out to be pretty amazing.
It's dark down in the tomb, but the guide had a flashlight & told us all the interesting facts about burial & tombs.
My favorite room was the burial chamber. I used to study hieroglyphs my 1st year of college so it brought back a ton of memories. I loved "reading" the story written on the walls of the tomb. It makes me want to go to Egypt.
The rest of the museum is great. There are some great artifacts & tons of history. And it's huge. We didn't have time to see it all before it closed, but now that we have a year pass we'll be back.
My kids' favorite part of the museum were the 4 mummies inside. I have to admit, I kind of loved them too. SO COOL.
After we left, we wandered around the grounds of the museum. There was a beautiful fountain perfect for "wishing," a garden, a pond, & a small temple. I can't wait to explore more.
This was my favorite day of the entire week. I love history. And I think the kids enjoyed themselves too. Now we just need to plan ahead for the Jr. Archaeologist classes. Fun fun fun.
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