Carolinas Aviation Museum

I decided to restart my blogs after a long (long) gap. My 2.5 year old is sound asleep and I thought this would be the right time to write something without any distractions. I was really confused on where to start. Then I decided to start with my travel blogs. I have visited many places since I published my last post. 

We celebrated 2016 Xmas with my sister in law and family in Charlotte. Right after the Xmas day, we decided to visit Carolinas aviation Museum.  I had very high expectations about this place when my husband talked about it. This is a small museum with great stuff. The "miracle on the hudson" display is the main exhibit here. That was fascinating.They also have one helicopter and an older commercial air craft cockpit you can sit in. My daughter, Grace enjoyed sitting in the cockpit..

Miracle on Hudson River

On January 15 2009, US airways flight 1549 struck on a flock of Canada geese three minutes after its take off from Newyork airport while en route to Charlotte, North Carolina. Due to that hit, the flight lost all the engine power. The pilot in command was Chesley B Sullenberg. Realizing that both the engines had shutdown, Sullenberg took control of the flight. Sullenberg called New york Terminal Radar Approach Control and he was asked to land in New Jersey. But Sullenberg mentioned that he could not be able to land and he decided to land in Hudson river. The plane made unpowered ditching to the river. Sullemberger opened the cockpit and ordered evacuation. The crew evacuated the passengers through window exits. Sullenberg walked through the cabins and confirmed it was empty. It could have led to a catastrophic failure. His decision saved the lives of 155 people on board. All the passengers had been able to escape the aircraft as the plane sank slowly into the freezing water. The temperature on that day was 19F.

Cowboys Stadium Dallas

Cowboys Stadium Dallas (ART + ARCHITECTURE)

05/28/2012:

Memorial Day: We decided to visit Cowboys Stadium on the memorial day. My mom is a hardcore fan of cowboys.She was excited about our stadium visit. We started at around 11.30 AM. First we entered the building through the wrong gate. Then We thought the stadium is closed on the memorial day. there were not much cars in the parking lot. We checked with the security and learnt that the visitors are supposed to enter through the gate A. We took a U turn and entered through the Gate A. There were a lots of vehicles in the parking lot. We walked straight to the ticket counter and bought tickets for 3. We got 1.15PM VIP visitor tour. Each ticket costed around $18. We entered the mall and security checked our bags and directed us to the PRO-Shop.

The lighting arrangements were amazing .. This is the view we had when we entered the stadium...

The pro-shop is in the right side when we enter in the stadium. There were lots of different varieties of American footballs in the PRO-shop. 















The team name COWBOYS can be seen in each and every products they sell... Another way of promotion...

Jerry Jones is the owner of this $1.1 billion stadium. The Jones Family's dream was to create the next Architectural icon - a place that would appeal not only to the fans of sports and entertainment, but also those of architecture, art, engineering and technology. The Jones Family traveled all over the world to experience the finest architectural achievements known to man. Those visits made them to think beyond the normal stadium design.

One of the main attractions of this stadium is its world class collection of contemporary art.The Jones Family made wonders by bringing both the Sports and art together.

This is the world's largest domed stadium. It has 80,000 seats and maximum capacity of the stadium, including standing seats is 1,10,000. This stadium was designed by  Dallas HKS.

Another amazing factor about this stadium is that this stadium has world's largest high definition video. A 72-foot tall and 120 foot wide screen suspended over the field. It is 90 feet above the field, so no punts can hit this screen. This screen has around 30 million light bulbs...

I never thought I would be able to see a lockers room of a stadium. The guide took us to the lockers room of the players and cheer girls... Each locker room was made out of wood. My mom was excited to see the locker of TONY ROMO. I think this is the only NFL stadium where visitors are allowed to enter players locker room. We were very happy to see the cheer ladies locker room too... Their beautiful photos were displayed on top of each locker room.

The next part of our tour was more excited one. We were allowed to enter the field...What an experience.. Visitors were allowed to run/walk/play in NFL field (for a limited time.:)).

Kimbell Art Museum

09 June 2012:

We decided to visit Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth to see the French Painting Exhibition "The Age of Impressionism". This French Painting exhibition was happening in one hall where as the other hall exhibits the paintings range from the third millennium B.C to the mid-20th century. This museum was established by Richard F Brown in 1966.  Admission to the museum's permanent collection is free. But there is special charge for visiting special exhibition hall.

Museum Main Entrance

Address: 3333 Camp Bowie Boulevard,Fort Worth , Texas 

Hours: Tuesday through Thursday, Saturday - 10 AM - 5PM

Friday - Noon - 8PM

Sunday - Noon- 8PM

In this post, I am going to talk more about the paintings which I liked in the European Painting collections.

The Raising of Lazarus

The raising of Lazarus

This painting is by an Italian painter Duccio Di Buoninsegna. (1278-1318). It was acquired in 1975. According to Bible (John 11:1-44), Lazarus's sisters Martha and Mary sent for his friend Jesus when he fell ill. By the time Jesus arrived in Bethany, Lazarus was already dead and four days were passed. Jesus showed his divinity by bringing Lazarus back from the dead. Duccio shows the moment when Jesus called Lazarus forth from the tomb. In this painting, Duccio used Tempera and GoldLeaf .

In this painting, Mary, Lazarus's one of the sisters is kneeling down on Jesus's feet. Also, we can see one person is covering the nose because of  the bad odor. Lazarus was in the tomb for 4 days.

Bible excerpt about this.

Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. "Take away the stone" he said.
"But, Lord", said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days".
Then Jesus said "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God".
So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me."
When he had said this, Jesus called in loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, and his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them "Take off the grave clothes and let him go".

Dallas Museum of Art

25 May 2012:

The long weekend is just started with a thought of where to travel. We didn't plan for the long trips as my in-laws are here to celebrate Memorial Day with us. As the day is going to be very sunny, we thought of visiting some indoor places. My husband's office is near by Dallas Museum of Art and he suggested this place. We three of us (my dad-in law couldn't come with us as he already had some other plans), started after lunch. It was a nice drive through the Dallas downtown. we all enjoyed the architecture of the top buildings through out the journey. We got down in front of the museum and entered the building.

There was big poster near the main entrance of the museum.

Museum Main Entrance

The building has 4 levels. We entered the level 1 through the main entrance. The security welcomed us with a broad smile and wishes. He scanned through our bags as part of his job. There is a DMA Cafe in the left side of the entrance. We walked directly to the visitor services Desk. 3 tickets have been taken, each costed $14. They gave us a white band to wear. They gave DMA's Visitor's guide to us. We walked directly to the special exhibition hall "YOUTH & BEAUTY" - ART OF THE AMERICAN TWENTIES. This hall exhibits the roaring twenties. This demonstrates 1920s through around 130 works by more than 65 artists.The "Art of the American Twenties" was organized by the Brooklyn Museum. The pictures visualizes the American places and things during twenties.All the exhibited pictures were taken between the end of world war 1(1918) and the beginning of the Great Depression(1929). We couldn't take pictures in this hall as the cameras were not allowed here.

With the twenties mood, we went to the center for Creative connections (C3). This hall exhibits the art in a new way. This hall has a lots of mirrors around.I had a feel good factor when i entered this hall. The idea and theme behind the works are exhibited here.

How many statues are there in the below picture? 1 or 2? :)

Magic of a Mirror

Painting - original View

There was a painting to illustrate the top view of the Eiffel tower. A statue of Eiffel tower and a mirror were placed there to demonstrate the idea behind the painting.

From C3, we went to 'Ancient Mediterranean Art and European Art' in level 2.I saw a lots of amazing and lovely pictures there. Some oil paintings were like real photographs. I would say more than that.

Is this a real photo or painting?

The below painting Madonna and child with St.John the Baptist is by  the Italian painter Bacchiacca Farancesco Ubertini (1494-1557) .

Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist

The Next picture The Sacrifice of Isaac is based on The Book of Genesis(Bible). The book of Genesis (22:1-19) tells how God tested Abraham's devotion by ordering him to sacrifice his only son Isaac.In this deeply moving depiction, The painter Antonio de Pereda (1566- 1669)  presents Abraham, still unaware that GOD will intervene and save his son. At the last moment GOD sends an angel to save his son.

The Sacrifice of Isaac

By that time, the museum was about to close. We ran into the level 3 and had a look at the ARTS OF AFRICA,ASIA AND THE PACIFIC. We couldn't spent much time in this hall. However, we could capture Sri. Buddha while glancing through the arts.

We missed a few halls because of the time crunch. My personal suggestion- If you are planning to visit DMA, plan ahead and start in the morning itself. There are a lots to see. Its worth spending the entire day in DMA.

General Information About DMA:

http://www.dm-art.org/

Address: Downtown Arts District, 1717 North Harwood Street, Dallas, Texas 75201.

Map :

DMA started in 1903 and moved to the current building in 1984. This 370000 square-foot building was designed by Edward Barnes. This museum has around 25000 collections spanning across 5000 years.

Museum Hours:

Tuesday & Wednesday : 11AM - 5PM

Thursday: 11 AM - 9PM

Friday,Saturday,Sunday : 11AM - 5PM

Monday:Closed

How to get the tickets: Walk in and get the tickets. Also, you can plan ahead and buy the tickets from DMA site.The tickets can even be purchased by mail or phone.

Tickets Prices(*as of 25 May 2012):
General Admission: $10

Admission to Youth and Beauty requires special ticket:
Adult : $14
Senior(+65) :$10
Students with school id -$9

On site Parking - $10

Restrictions:
Don't touch the arts.

Flash photography and camera lights are not permitted.