Tag Archives: museum

An Artful Visit

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Detroit Institute of Arts

From our home in Grand Rapids, it’s just over a two hour drive to Detroit. In the past, we were frequent visitors to the “motor city” however we haven’t traveled to Detroit for several years.

Yesterday four of us decided to take a day trip to visit the well-known Detroit Institute of Arts. DIA is located in the downtown area adjacent to Wayne State University

We arrived in the morning and walked through the many halls to view the collections from various geographic areas: Africa, Middle East, Korea, Japan, China.

Ezra and Eden are admiring this French Count and to the right is Kris communicating with a Hindu statue.

After a short lunch break in the museum’s cafeteria we continued viewing other collections for a few hours – modern, British, Dutch and Impressionist.

Below are some of my photos I took of the amazing works of art from our visit:

The museum is extremely well laid out and organized. It’s definitely a first class public attraction.

We very much enjoyed our one-day visit.

If you’re in the Detroit area, it’s worth your time to the stop at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Written by:

Arnie Lee

The Met

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Metropolitan Museum of Art

Last month while we were visiting the New York City area, we made a special trip to the well-known Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is the nation’s largest museum and contains a half a million specimens.

We spent a considerable amount of time perusing the huge collection of Egyptian art. Here are some of the exhibits.

Red Star Line Museum

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Emigration to America

A couple of years ago while visiting friends in Belgium we drove a short distance from Brussels to the nearby port city of Antwerp.

Antwerp is Belgium’s second largest city. It’s situated along the Schedt River which empties into the North Sea which is turn connects to the Atlantic Ocean.
One of the world’s biggest ports, Antwerp handles more cargo than any other port in Europe except nearby Rotterdam. Seeing the inviting waterfront surrounding us, we took a very pleasant sightseeing boat ride on the Sheldt.
After our sightseeing excursion, we explored the streets of Antwerp and stumbled upon the Red Star Line Museum.

The Red Star Line was a shipping company that operated between Antwerp and the eastern seaboard of the USA and Canada. Throughout Europe they advertised their routes and from 1873 to 1934 – sixty years – Antwerp was a center for emigration from the continent. Emigrants from Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Netherlands, France, Italy and other countries traveled to Antwerp to board the ships bound for North America.
More than two million Europeans were passengers on the Red Star Line steamships from Antwerp to America’s large metropolitan centers – New York, Philadelphia, Boston. Paintings and displays in the museum depict the many travelers in Antwerp’s streets preparing for the long and challenging journey across the ocean to a destination that promised them a new, brighter future.
On display are curated personal belongings – clothing, suitcases, diaries, photographs, jewelry, toys – that punctuate the stories of individuals and families who decided to leave their homeland hoping for a better life.

For me, the Red Star Line Museum highlighted the overwhelming struggle that millions of individuals experienced reaching for a better future by having to brave the unknowns of emigrating to America.

If you’re interested in learning more, here’s the link to the Red Star Line Museum in Antwerp.