The IgoUgo group met at The Field Museum to see Tutankhamun and The Golden Age of the Pharaohs exhibit. Glass display cases housed a variety of King Tut’s unearthed antiquities. Becoming a king at the age of 9, dying at 19, family tree origins unknown, and little history under his reign, King Tut is widely know for his mass of treasures.

There were statues and figurines of various deities carved from stones and fashioned out of metals. Many were the body of the god, but the face of King Tut. Ornately carved jewelry and headwear were also on display. Large items like furniture and tombs required lengthy scrutiny, yet you still couldn’t take in everything.

Photography was not permitted and considering the crows, this was just as well. The glare from the glass sometimes distorted items if you weren’t able to maneuver into a good viewing position. All in all it was a superb exhibit as far as the items, but I guess a personal one-on-one tour would have been out of the question.

After a couple of hours I met up with some the group and we headed back inside to explore other areas of the museum.

Although the ever popular, especially with children, dinosaur exhibit was quite interesting and contained many unfamiliar creatures, I personally like Evolving Planet. A particular feature had me nearly mesmerized watching one area of panel, then another before repeating the process with the next 2 panels. Three panels create an underwater scene as fascinating as an IMAX screen. Active creatures like squid, clams, fish and jellyfish moved across the panels scouring for food or avoiding being food themselves. Many individual segments must have been put together so that it appeared I was never looking at the same scene. How and why the simplest creature evolved developing appendages and adapting to the changing environment was explained along the way meandering through the exhibit.

The Field Museum is comprised of three floors containing a variety of permanent exhibits. Additionally, at the time, there were limited engagements including genetics, dinosaurs, Pompeii, underground, and King Tut.

There are three museum stores, MacDonald's and the Corner Bakery. The museum is open from 9am to 5pm and has entrances on each side of the building. The aquarium is just across the walkway.

A beautiful Saturday morning saw the group and I at the Field Museum of Natural History. Designed in the classical style of architecture, this huge museum is the home of many archaeological and historical exhibits dating from prehistoric times. The main reason we came to the Field Museum was to see the King Tut Exhibit that was on display in the museum's lower level. Of course, the place was crowded as hell, and we had to fight more crowds to get to see what we came for. But first, we were herded into a film room to see another History Channel documentary on King Tut that was narrated by "Dr. Zhivago" himself, Omar Sharif. He can leave his shoes under my bed anytime!

After the film, we were herded into the exhibit itself. No photography was allowed, so the cameras had to go away for the time being. The exhibit showed many artifacts dating from King Tut's time and gave detailed facts of their use. Most of the exhibits were found in the early 20th Century in King Tut's tomb by archaeologists and were sent to museums all over the world. There was a tomb in the exhibit, but it was of one of Tut's relatives. Most of us were disappointed that it wasn't the tomb of Tut himself.

The exhibit was too crowded with people listening to audio tapes of the exhibits, and it was hard for speed readers like me or others to maneuver through the exhibit. Since Ancient Egypt isn't my cup of tea, I made my way quickly through the exhibit and went and took a break outside afterwards.

After the Tut exhibit, some of us made our way to the Native American Exhibit. Now we're talking my style! I was very impressed with the exhibits of clothing, utensils, and other things used by several Native American tribes before and after the white man's invasion. There wasn't much on Idaho tribes, but there were plenty of exhibits featuring the Sioux and Cheyenne tribes of the Great Plains, and I really enjoyed the model of the Native camp in one of the rooms.

The Field Museum is open daily from 9am to 5pm and admissions go from $12 for adults and $7 for kids and seniors. There are special exhibits through the year along with free admission days. The King Tut Exhibit was a big disappointment, but don't miss the Native American Exhibit!

Tut Exhibit

When the first exhibit toured the US, I was never able to visit it. When I heard that a new exhibit had been mounted and would be visiting Chicago and Philadelphia, I was ecstatic: finally I would be able to see it. Even before the get-together was planned for Chicago, my girlfriend and I were planning to visit to see Tut. Plans changed, the get-together came up, and Al and I headed out Saturday morning to meet up with the other guides.

You can get to the Field Museum on the Trolley Tour, on a regular bus, on the L (though it is a pretty good walk to the stop), or, as we did, on the way there by cab. From our B&B, with tip, the fare was $10.

We did not tour the rest of the museum, so I can’t tell you if it is worth a visit. I do want to go on record as saying that the Tut exhibit was fabulous, but I am less than impressed with how the Field Museum handled the crowds that were visiting on that particular Saturday.

Because we were part of a group, we didn’t have to wait in line to pick up our tickets. It looked as if they were trying to control the size of the groups entering, but they completely failed. As we entered the first room, people using the audio tours were stopping in front of the featured exhibits and totally blocking the view for anyone else. People were five or six deep around each and every exhibit. We were herded along like cattle, barely able to read any of the signs on the exhibits. It was extremely warm and stuffy, and frankly claustrophobic.

We tried to move a little quickly to get ahead of the audio tour people, and for a while, it actually thinned out, but we never seemed quite able to get to an area where we could really enjoy viewing the amazing artifacts that had come from so far away and so long ago.

To say I was disappointed is a vast understatement. I am going to have to try to see the exhibit when it comes to Philadelphia and hope that perhaps the crowds will be better controlled. I know one thing: I will not visit on a Saturday morning. I am hoping that by visiting on a weekday, I will be able to take the time to see and enjoy this long-anticipated exhibit.

Like most exhibits, it ends at the gift shop, and they have plenty of the usual items packed into special Tut bags.

The Field Museum was fun but we went toward the end of the day and I was a bit tired and not in the mood for big crowds. The first thing you see upon walking into the main hall is Sue, the enormous Tyrannosaurus Rex which is worth the price of admission all by itself. There is some good educational writings on the T Rex around the base and it gives you a great perspective of its size since it is placed right next to two large elephants that were stuffed a few decades ago.

There is enough here for an eight hour visit but we had only 2. The other thing I wanted to mention is the extraordinary ancient Egypt exhibit. They actually took a real tomb apart and reassembled it right in the museum. There are lots of artifacts from hieroglyphics on the stone walls to real mummified Egyptians as well as jewelry and furniture. I was amazed by this exhibit but the crowds in the lower level were a real turn off. If you go to the Field Museum, go early and start with the Egyptian temple. Many of the upper level exhibits get scant attention and can be viewed later.

The upper floors house the great jade collection as well as really excellent exhibits on flora, butterflies, meteors, papa New Guinea, Tahiti, precious stones, fossils etc. Lots to see and absorb. Here is a link www.fmnh.org

(FREE ON WED.) The Field Museum is known around the world for their in-depth Dinosaur research. They have the biggest and most complete T. Rex ever found, but they also have the smallest Dino as well ( Located 2nd floor, east side after Sue's immense head that was too heavy to place on her body on the main floor.) Don't make the mistake of thinking Dino's are all that this museum holds !

1.) enter the lifesize tomb of a pharaoh on the main floor and wind your way through narrow passages before you enter the lower level and the 23 mummies who live here. Enter the marketplace of that time for fun activities, such as printing your own name in hieroglyphics.

2.) Maori House of the ancestors - located in the upper level of the Pacific Island collection. The Field museum began it's collections at a time of imperialistic abuses of other cultures which allowed them to put together an amazing amount of material but in a rather unethical way. This spiritual house was "bought" in exchange for glass bead necklaces. In the museum's honor, they went back to the Maori several years ago, and offered to return the house. The Maori's elders realized that the house has been used wisely in the purpose of education as well as celebrations of weddings and funerals that have been held in the museum. After serious reflection, they asked that the ancestors house remain to guide US in a better understanding of THEM. ( with the eyes of their ancestors watching, of course.)

3.) Lions of Tsavo- located main floor-Africa. Remember the movie "Ghost of the Darkness" ? Well, these two lions are the real maneatters featured in that movie. There was a hunter brought by the railroad to Africa to kill them, where they ended up as rugs for awhile. A recent examination has found the reason WHY they ate humans. It appears that these blokes had a bad case of gum disease, and human skin was easier to pull apart than...let's say...rhino skin.

4.) FREE tours offered by volunteers from the information desk at 11 and 2 during the week, and 11 and 1 on weekends.