We arrived at the De Young museum at 8:30 and were allowed right in because they said it was too cold to stand outside. We quickly got our tickets and were fourth and fifth in line. They opened early at 8:45 and the exhibit is set up so you truly feel you are entering a tomb. Because I don't like to use the listening devices, we were ahead of everyone, and so entered each room and studied the exhibits alone. I feel an affinity for Egyptian times, and so it was something to be standing in huge dark spaces, examining cases that showed life as it was and the preparations for death. We were vicariously there. Tut became king at 9 and died mysteriously at 19. The times didn't seem so different from now, arguing about the gods, one god, many gods, sun god. Are our celebrities now elevated to the position of gods?
I want to know more. I want to know why when mummifying, the brains were sucked out through the nose and thrown away. Other parts were honored. Why not the brain?
It was odd to go from the Egyptian past to Redwood Shores where Jeff works and all the activity and contrasts of shiny Oracle buildings, smaller ones, and the water of the bay.
