Museum memories

This is my entry for this month's IndieWeb Carnival hosted by James.

For the past half an hour, I've tried to write a note describing my very special relationship with museums, but I seem to be unable to transcribe the emotions I feel when I think of the different moments spent there. Every word I can use to try to explain how I feel seems weak compared to the sour pinch in my heart when I recall all these sweet memories.

So instead, I'm going to make a list. A list of a few memories without any context, just raw as they come to my mind.

  • My grandfather "ice-skating" for the first time in like 20 years
  • Paintings of prehistoric animals on mine and my classmates' faces
  • Coming home and trying to light a fire with a bunch of grass and two random rocks
  • Using my well kept school-trip pocket money to buy a lemur plushie (Oh how tough it was to choose)
  • Seeing actual dinosaur bones for the first time (It still brings tears to my eyes to this day)
  • Running around in the hallways, feeling the smooth carpet dampening the sound of my footsteps
  • The first time I spoke to someone who wasn't yet important to me
  • Hanging from a metal bar for as long as possible to try to beat the times set by others
  • The way light hits old medieval artifacts in a beautiful modern room and the contrast of these two periods
  • Eating fish and chips before seeing the same fish I had just eaten (Now, I'm vegan)
  • The car ride playing mario kart on the nintendo DS with the same friends I used to play mario kart as a kid
  • Discovering I'm not actually as scared of death as I thought I was
  • Going by the Louvre, desperate to go inside, and promising myself that someday I'll actually visit it
  • Starting to cry because I finally stand next to the Assyrian Lamassu that I'd been dreaming to see since I was a kid
  • Making Speculoos
  • Running around in an ancient Roman villa, making bread and visiting the herbs garden; Twice
  • Laying on a Fakir bed persuaded I'm about to die (Spoiler, I'm still alive)
  • A fake pig with a fake apple in its mouth on a very large table surrounded by knight armors
  • Trying to shoot a fake bison with a bow and missing absolutely every shot
  • Trying to shoot a fake doe with a slingshot and missing absolutely every shot
  • Learning that my ancestors cut the hands of thousands of Congolese and all the other horrors they did
  • The beautiful park of an English castle, running through the hedges the heart light with love
  • Looking at an enormous blob of fake jelly wiggle after poking it
  • My Grandfather taking me out of the exhibition because I started crying when there were sounds of guns and explosions (Turns out I wouldn't do good on a battlefield)
  • Walking under the remains of a big blue whale
  • The feeling on the skin of dark, silent, heavy rooms
  • Being alone in a fairly big part of the Louvre and the feeling of a dream being even better than imagined
  • The frustration of being at Stonehenge but not allowed to go inside it and the feeling of a dream being broken
  • Buying magnets or wooden puzzles that have nothing to do with the exhibition
  • Standing in a closed wagon that once had transported people to be executed in camps and feeling the gravity of the moment
  • Getting denied the entry of a museum with school so we spent a ridiculously long time in the gift shop which was really beautiful
  • Walking on the rails of the train because it is longer than the platform and we are a the tail end of it
  • My grandfather sharing it's passion for trains while sitting in an old steam powered carriage
  • My godfather and my godmother in the same place at the same time (It happened like 3 or 4 times at most in my life, some of these I was like a couple days old)
  • Playing and running and climbing on way too many old castle ruins. It is always wonderful
  • Sitting in awe watching the carefully crafted lighting environment
  • Moon jumping attached to a cable after having walked through an actual rocket head

I cried a bit while making this list, it felt good.
I think I realised that what made museums so special to me is the people I shared these moments with. Some of these people I'll never see again, others I could but won't. People I miss, people I love.

If you've read this far, thank you and I hope you have a wonderful day :))

PS: I would like to thank Manuel Moreale and his Dealgorithmed newsletter for reminding me of the IndieWeb Carnival