One of the things I have been planing to do for AGES is visit the Titanic exhibition at the Melbourne Museum. Truth be told, myself and Miss K have wanted to visit the museum for years but it is one of those things that keeps getting put off in favour of work or family and the time to go never seems to come around.
The day finally arrived yesterday – with me being unemployed and Miss K being on a well deserved break – and we headed over to the Museum complex to get our dose of culture and education for the day.
The first thing you need to know is how popular the Titanic exhibition is. On an ordinary Thursday – no school holidays or public holiday or RDO – the place was still packed out. We bought tickets for the 12.15pm session (they only let 100 additional people into the exhibit every 15 minutes to ensure it is not overcrowded) and headed downstairs to collect our boarding passes.
Your boarding pass gives you a ‘character’ – a real life person who travelled on the Titanic, and you can view the exhibit imaging you are that guest, be it a first class jewellery heir or a third class runaway. I was a second class Indian mother, travelling with her 3 children to New York in search of a cure for an ill one year old. Miss K was in third class with her children.
The exhibit itself is a wonder, and kudos to Melbourne Museum and its associated curators and sponsors for such a wonderful experience. Those close to me will know I developed an (unhealthy?) obsession with the Titanic after the movie was released in 1997 and spent the next years collecting every piece of information or memorabilia I could find about Titanic – this exhibit is truly a testament to those around the world who continue this pursuit.
With artefacts from the ocean floor and recreated rooms, hallways, the grand staircase and an iceberg (yep, an iceberg. You can touch it and its cold!), the exhibit is the closest you will ever come to experiencing the excitement and sadness of the Titanic.
The extended season runs til November 7 and your ticket gives you access to the entire museum; Miss K and I spent hours visiting the various exhibits, feeling like schoolkids on a class excursion. There really is something for everyone, of all ages, at the museum.
No photography was allowed in the Titanic exhibition, so here is a shot of me with the T-Rex.
Image thanks to Miss K
