Posted on September 1st, 2013 under Denmark. Tags: aarhus, den gamle by, museums, Nikon 18-200mm VR II, nikon d7000. Comments Off on Time Travel

Korean National Treasure No. 103 (Jungheungsanseong Ssangsaja stone lantern) from the United Silla Period in Gwangju National Museum

After biking my way (mostly uphill) in extreme heat and humidity to the Gwangju National Museum (국립광주박물관), I was a bit horrified to see the front doors all standing wide open. This meant there would be no AC inside (like many places in Korea). I was already dripping in sweat so I figured I would just take a quick look around and then head back home for a cold shower. However, once I walked in, two “English-speaking” guides said they would escort me around. I hadn’t heard or spoken a word of English in days so I didn’t turn them down. They were super nice, but their English was nearly impossible to understand. They talked about this stone lantern (광양 중흥산성 쌍사자 석등) for a long time. Actually they talked about everything in the museum for a long time (while I was about to burst into flames from the heat), but they talked about this lantern for an extra long time so I figured it must be pretty important. Then, when I was in Busan, I saw a replica of this same stone lantern at the Busan Museum so it must be really important if replicas of it exist all over the country.

The story my tour guides conveyed to me is that a farmer found this lantern in his field and sold it to a Japanese man. When the Japanese man tried to take the stone lantern back to Japan he was not allowed. Korea then purchased the lantern from the Japanese man to regain ownership.

Korea is now up to a little over 300 designated national treasures. This was number 103 (국보 103호).

Posted on August 10th, 2013 under Korea. Tags: gwangju, gwangju national museum, museums, Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR G lens, Nikon D600. Comments Off on Twin-lion stone lantern of Jungheungsanseong Fortress

Blue Whale outside National Museum of Nature and Science

Posted on June 16th, 2013 under Japan. Tags: museums, Tokyo, ueno, 国立科学博物館. Comments Off on Life-size Blue Whale roaming the streets of Tokyo

Edaphosaurus @ National Museum of Nature and Science in Ueno, Tokyo, Japan

Posted on May 25th, 2013 under Japan. Tags: museums, Tokyo, ueno, 国立科学博物館. Comments Off on Edaphosaurus（エダフォサウルス）

Gas station relocated from outside Wessels gate 15 to Norsk Folkemuseum

My random photo of the day was this pic. This gas station and VW Beetle don’t look that old to me, but perhaps they look ancient to a younger generation. Actually, this was one of the newer items at Norsk Folkemuseum. Most structures in this open-air museum were much more than 100-years old. There is also a Stave Church at Norsk Folkemuseum which I need to post a photo of soon.

Posted on May 14th, 2013 under Other. Tags: museums, Nikon 18-200mm VR II, nikon d7000, Norsk Folkemuseum, norway, oslo. Comments Off on Vintage gas station at Norwegian Museum of Cultural History