Monday, August 21, 2006

Friday 5th May, Denver

We awoke to a thick fog and you could not see far from the 7th Floor of the Hotel. Anyway we had discovered from the internet the previous evening that 'Bodyworld 2' was in town and so we decided to try and get tickets.
Prior to going to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, we hit the town, well one or two streets anyway. 16 th Street has been turned in to an open mall with shops and restaurants running the length of about 1.5 miles. It was amazing there were free buses every few minutes to take you from one end to the other. Not sure why as it takes 20 minutes from one end to the other. Right hand drive buses too, is this a first in America.
For those who have not heard of Bodyworld2 or 1 for that matter, it has been put together by a German anatomist Dr Gunther von Hagens who has invented a method to preserve the body by a process called Plastination. Perhaps this exhibition is not for the faint hearted however when we got there the place was crowded with school kids all of whom were visiting the exhibition. It is a very interesting and amazing way of showing the body and its complete make up. There were over 200 human specimens including transparent body slices.
Many of the complete bodies were displayed in posed positions such as the skateboarder, or the skiier or footballer so you could see how the various muscles work in the human body. I know this guy has attracted some bad publicity in the past, rumours that he used executed chinese criminals, not true of course.
After a very interesting two hour tour we went to the IMAX cinema and saw a film called 'The Human Body' by Dr Robert Winston. This was a BRITISH film I may add and was very good and well presented.
On the way back from the main Denver downtown, again we saw lots of areas where the housing is appalling, perhaps it was immigrant territory. But as you leave Denver and drive over the hill into the area called Westminster, the housing and surrounds improved and it is hard to believe that this can exist so close to the other area!!
We much prefered Nashville and Charlotte to Denver and so we won't be going back there again except to catch a flight.
The weather was poor during the day and so few pictures were taken. Thank God you all say..