The Heritage of the Sea section was full of weird sea-related stuff, like this pair of “whale ear drums.” Lots of stuff from shipwrecks too. Also a crazy music box that played the Beatles’ “Octopus’s Garden” over. and over. and over.
The entire room is dominated by an enormous 200-foot sculpture of a sea monster fighting a giant octopus. You literally walk up and around the thing on elevated walkways. It’s breathtaking.
Creepy puppets.
Snookums disagrees with some Burma-Shave ads in the Tribute to Nostalgia.
A creepy statue. Is it a garuda? (Note: I swear, 75% of the stuff at the HOTR could have “creepy” applied to it.)
At long last we were nearing the the carousel. They advertise it as the world’s largest. It has 296 handcraft animals, none of them horses. In American Gods, Shadow and the gods ride the carousel into the mind of Odin. This was our first glimpse down a dark hallway.
And suddenly you step into the carousel room and it’s thundering before you and all around, and it’s 100 times more intense than you imagined. There are lights and music and crazy naked angel mannequins and carousel horses and robotic, self-playing instruments covering every inch of the floor and ceiling and the music is crashing but all you can look at is this intense whirling carousel before you.
Snookums tries to take it in.
I’m overwhelmed.
The demonic gate from the Carousel to the Organ Room.