At the Museum of Illusions...of course
I'm off to Ljubljana tomorrow for the first time in 21 years to visit my friends Barbara and Jeff, who had paid us a visit just this past weekend. This weekend is Open House in Vilnius, during which sixty-two unique architectural buildings will open their doors to the public for free tours. It sounds like it could be very interesting, but I decided instead to spend the afternoon with my daughter, before I jet off to exotic locales over the May Day holiday. We began by having lunch at the Meat Lovers Pub, where I tormented Amber by ordering the horse burger over her protest (she had a standard beef steak). It wasn't the first time for me to go equine, but while I wish I could say the burger tasted like horse, it had more of a spicy beef flavor to it. Still pretty tasty, though:
After lunch it was off to the Vilnius Museum of Illusions, which is just what the name says - you expect to see things like distorted sizes and upside-down rooms, and that's exactly what you receive for your €10 admission fee (see first photo above). The ticket price may've been a little high, but it was a fun experience and my daughter had a great time...
An example of scanimation:
Writing her Mandarin name on the wall with a light pen:
I'm no angel:
The M.C. Escher-influenced Peregrination, by David Macdonald:
Light off...:
...light on:
Toilet humor:
Watching a Tom and Jerry-like Soviet cartoon involving a wolf and a rabbit in a mockup of an 80's-style Lithuanian living room:
Amber and I were both inexplicably mesmerized by this spinning coin:
Speaking of Escher, the corridor leading into the museum had reprints of some of his best-known works lining the walls. Many years ago, I attended an Escher exhibition at a department store in Tōkyō 東京; hopefully I still have the souvenir book somewhere in storage. Looks like I'll be doing some exploration this summer:
After the museum, the two of us stopped for a drink and snack at Crustom (where my daughter helped me brush up on my woefully inadequate Mandarin skills in preparation for our trip to Taiwan in a couple months' time), before taking a leisurely walk back home. Tomorrow I'll be sloughing off to Slovenia...
Outside the Vilnius Salomėja Nėris Gymnasium
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