Another cultural day!

Friday
We had a good day today, despite the gloomy damp weather. In the morning we went downtown to the museum center to see their new exhibit on Pompeii, followed by their IMAX film on volcanoes. It was a fascinating exhibition - as the introductory phrase said “what nature destroyed, it also preserved”. It starts with a short introductory video that sets the scene with reconstructions of Pompeii and the nearby volcano. Then you progress into a reproduced atrium from a Roman villa in 79AD, dotted with original statues, and then into an area dealing with everyday life in Pompeii, with over 150 authentic artifacts, from household pots and pans, pottery vessels, weapons, medical instruments, coins, tools, mosaics and frescoes. The exhibit continues into a small space where there is a simulation of the eruption, complete with the ground vibrating and flashing lights representing lightening (!), finally culminating with the full body casts of twisted human and animal forms, in the positions in which they fell, overcome by the extreme heat and poisonous gases. The experience certainly left me with the desire to see the ruins in person - another place to add to my bucket list!
The IMAX movie was amazing, with mind blowing photography, showing scenes from active volcanoes in Indonesia, a boiling lava lake in Vanuatu in the South Paciific, geysers and mineral deposit fields in Ethiopia, and terrific footage from the 2018 Kilauea eruption in Hawaii, and also including a walk through the ghost town of Pompeii. All of this is portrayed on a 5 story domed screen with surround sound - so you can really imagine you are next to that boiling lava lake! All in all a wonderful informative morning.
We then returned home, just long enough to have a cup of tea, then prepare and quickly eat dinner, before returning downtown, this time to the Symphony concert at Music Hall, a perfect program for the season, with a performance of Aaron Coplands Appalachian Spring, Mozart Piano concerto No 24, and Schumman’s Symphony no 1 “Spring”.