Thwarted!

Several times now I have noticed advertisements on the trams that pass by my building for an exhibition on Ancient Rome. I wasn't sure where it was but intended to investigate at some point.

Then I got my weekly "What's on in Melbourne"  email, plus a monthly email from a car share company, both of which mentioned it.

It's at the Melbourne Museum. I have membership at the museum so I get a discount for exhibitions. I decided to go.

The last time I went to an exhibition at the museum I did not have an overwhelmingly good time. Mostly that was because I was not in the most sparkling of moods. Partly it was because it was quite dimly lit and I couldn't see. Partly it was because it was in a small space and I felt a bit crowded. And I definitely did not enjoy the school parties who were in the building (although not in the exhibition space itself). Let it be clearly understood that the children were not misbehaving but they did get underfoot and they are quite noisy.

So I bought a ticket for lunch time yesterday, thinking that school parties would be having lunch and not cluttering up the museum.

Cool. Off I went. I took a tram along Flinders Street, intending to walk up to Bourke Street and then take the 86 to the museum.  I got to Bourke Street only to discover that trams had been diverted along La Trobe Street. So I walked up to La Trobe Street and got on a 96, which had also been diverted from its regular route and which also goes to the museum. I really should have thought to swap to it on Flinders Street. But there you go.

No worries. I got to the museum in time for my time slot. Only to be warned by the nice lady at the desk that there were 60 Year 7 students due in at my time slot and 80 Grade 6 children due in at the next time slot. This did not fill my heart with joy! She suggested staying and going in at the mid-afternoon slot, by which time the school groups would all have gone home. I didn't really want to do that and rearranged my ticket for mid-afternoon on Thursday.

I went to the cafe and treated myself to a pie and chips as a reward for (so far) neither yelling at anyone nor sighing heavily. The chips were nice and hot and crisp. The pie, alas, was cold and claggy. I might have sighed a bit at that point. 

I had a wander through the Forest and Gondwana exhibition which was quite pleasant. Plus - by the time I came out to go back home, the trams were running properly again so it was no bother getting back.

Also - it did not rain until well after I was safely back in my flat.

Fingers crossed that my Thursday time slot at the museum is after the school parties have gone home.