Museum Day 1

Tuesday, 8 January 2008

This morning was the usual - breakfast, a bit of play time, then schoolwork with Giggles. Poppet sat with us for a bit, drawing, until he started being too much of a distraction. So Laolao and Laoye took him off for a walk and some shopping.

We figured that it was high time we visited some of the museums and sights of Addis, beyond just the few blocks around our house. So Giggles worked hard to get everything done by shortly after noon, then we ate a quick lunch and headed off.

The taxi driver we found didn’t know where the National Museum was. Thankfully, Laoye had figured it out and was following along on the map in the guide book. So when the fellow stopped at the Addis Ababa museum, we said no and directed him to the correct place. (According to the book, the Addis Ababa museum is the scruffiest of all and mostly filled with portraits of important historical figures. We figured we could pass on it.)

The National Museum ended up being worth a visit, but easily accomplished in an hour or two. It is located in a four-storey building, but each level is small with not much to see. The lowest level is the one people will be most interested in, and the one with the most interesting exhibits. This documents the paleontological discoveries in Ethiopia, including that of Lucy (here known as Dinkanesh), the first and earliest humanoid, found in the Afar region in northeastern Ethiopia. It contains other fossils and bones, too, making for a relatively interesting display.

As Laolao and Laoye were interested in reading the information (presented in both Amharic and English), I herded the kids. They zoomed through the bottom floor, exclaiming over some of the skeletons and pictures, but were quickly done with it and up to the main floor. All I recall of that floor is that it featured a four-sided TV/video screen showing a short film on the evolution of humans and highlighting Africa as the birthplace of humankind. That held the kids’ attention for a while. Then it was up to the second floor, home to many paintings depicting religious and historical scenes; and the third floor, an interesting one, with displays of tools and clothing from traditional Ethiopian life. All in all, we spent a little over an hour in the museum, and Laolao and Laoye managed to read most of the displays in that time.

Seeing as the afternoon was yet young, we decided we’d hit another museum. The Ethnological Museum was about a kilometre up King George VI street, so we walked. It is located on the grounds of Addis Ababa University, within the Institute of Ethnological Studies.

This museum is definitely worth a visit. Its displays are much more extensive than those of the National Museum, and if one has the time and inclination to read all the information, one would come away with a fairly good understanding of traditional life among some of the many ethnic groups that comprise modern Ethiopia. The information is laid out according to the life stages, beginning with childhood, progressing through various aspects of adulthood (such as marriage, religion, traditional medicines, housing, and so on), and ending with death (funeral practices, grave markers and beliefs related to death and what happens after death).

We had about two hours at the museum and saw perhaps half, if that. Here, I was quite interested in the displays, so Laolao and Laoye shared kid duty. Giggles was interested in some of the information, so we all took turns reading to her from various panels, until she got bored.

The museum closed at five, so we caught a taxi home. Poppet fell asleep on the way home. We had wanted to try out Aladdin’s, one of the restaurants at the end of our road that had been recommended to us, so we had the taxi drop us off there. It turned out that Aladdin’s didn’t open until 7:00 and there was no way the kids were going to last until then - Giggles was hungry! - so we found a different restaurant right next door and ate there.

After eating, I left with the kids while Laolao and Laoye settled the bill. Walking in the dark, Poppet was quite happy to hold Mommy’s hand, though he’s refused it otherwise when we’re out walking. Once home, it was the usual bedtime routine. And that was Tuesday!

(Continue to 9 January: Museum Day 2)